Pieces
by romancing-the-moon
Summary: After the events in Marionette, Olivia Dunham transfers out of Fringe division in Boston and into Manhattan's V Task Force. She is partnered with Erica Evans and the two must work out their mutual emotional traumas in order to stop the invading V forces.


**Prelude **

Apologies mean nothing in a world of broken hearts and betrayals; the casualties are hearts, cut out to stop the bleeding, the hurt, and make the afflicted survive. Broken and betrayed, pieces of fragmented souls flutter to the ash-laden ground, where the smell of burnt death still lingers in the air. Left behind, they wander aimlessly, desperate for answers, meaning, and a place in the world.

**Part One**

The city had barely awoke from its slumber; the coffee was still freshly circulating in his blood stream as she walked into his office. Olivia Dunham didn't bother to sit, even though the offer was made. She simply handed him the paper, filled out in haste after her conversation with Peter the night before.

To his credit, Broyles said nothing at all, only sighed and nodded silently. She waited for a moment, briefly debating whether or not she should say something, tell him what forced her hand, what made her change her mind, and whether or not this was an emotional decision. Had he bothered to argue, Broyles would probably have been right.

Olivia had never been a big talker to begin with: she kept her emotions under wraps, hidden beneath layers of protective shells built up over the years after necessity. Now, the silence between her and Peter was overbearing, cracking her already crumbling foundations, but to be fair, it wasn't all his fault. Not entirely. If anything he had been the one who tried to keep her together, get her to rely on people, that she could trust the people who cared about her and he had brought her home. So she did and it all crumbled through her fingers like dry sand that screamed out for water.

She knew that Peter didn't mean to do everything he put her through and she could forgive him, she could understand the situation and even justify it to a certain extent. The logical, rational side of her that was still intact could see it from his position. She let that side out when she was around people, when they smiled and asked her how she was and she replied with a bright smile, betrayed only by her dull, saddened eyes, smiling emI'm fine/em.

She could hold it all together just long enough to get her self back home, to the place that emthey/em were in together, the place where emshe/em had set up camp, over ridding Olivia's comfortable home, turning her into a complete stranger in a foreign land. emShe/em was like a poison that had infected her emotions, over taking her heart and brain and body, leaving Olivia back to where she started, sobbing on her kitchen floor.

The fact of the matter, her rational side argued, was that she needed this to happen. She needed this transfer, this change, this move, before her job was completely compromised. As an emotional wreck, she floated through her assignments, hoping that they ended quickly, that these awkward meetings between the two of them would just emend/em. Melodrama had never been her forte and she refused to give in to it now.

She debated, countless hours filled with questions, their answers and consequences went ripping through her mind, leaving her helpless to the tears that fell. In the constant war between emotion and rationality, she chided herself for loosing, something that never happened to her before. Throughout her traumatic childhood, she had managed to keep herself together, emerge from the burning wreckage unhurt and unscathed, but now the burns were starting to blister, peel and bleed. This was killing her, softly, swiftly, without sound or warning and what scared her the most was how she couldn't stop it, how couldn't save herself from this silent destructive force that was threatening her very existence.

Broyles opened his mouth suddenly, sucking her out of her own thoughts and hurling her back into reality; panic started to flood Olivia. He was about to protest, ask her to reconsider, to remember why she was involved in this and what was at stake, Olivia was sure of it. She gave no response or movement, she just flashed her eyes up at him, ending his thoughts with a simple glance.

"Please, sir. Don't," Olivia pleaded with him.

He sighed and looked disappointed while Olivia looked at the floor. Resigned to defeat, Broyles took Olivia's paper and let it float out of his hands to his desk.

He nodded and picked up his telephone receiver and pushed some buttons. He looked up at her, giving her visual cues. His eyes flashed from Olivia to his office door.

Olivia swallowed, nodding. "Thank you, sir. I appreciate it," she said softly.

There was nothing left for either of them to say: Olivia's mind was set and nothing would change it otherwise. Silently, Olivia slipped from Broyles' office like a ghost in the wind looking for its final resting place, and headed home to pack what few of her things would be coming with her.

/

Broyles was severe in his own right, but as soon as he walked into the lab, Peter's body stopped moving when he saw Broyles' face and almost as quickly, Peter's heart and mind began to race. His first thought was that she was dead and that it would have been all his fault, that his actions, his decisions and behaviours drove her to death somehow. All the colour drained from his face and his heart got stuck somewhere between his chest and his throat. He opened his mouth to say something, but promptly shut it when Broyles shook his head emno/em. That look relieved Peter to a certain degree, but it failed to put his mind at ease. There was something importantly huge floating around Broyles' head; the air itself caught Astrid's attention.

She turned from Walter's babbling and tried to make eye contact with Peter but he was so focused on looking up at the ceiling that he didn't see her look. Astrid motioned to Walter, grabbing him by the shoulder with her hand, forcing him away from his experiments and refocusing him at the man who just entered the lab. Walter looked up at Astrid, then to Peter and only then did he notice Boyles standing before the lab's set of double doors.

"Oh, Agent Broyles. How lovely to see you. Agent Dunham isn't here, but we have some delicious homemade cookies that you could snack on while you wait for her, if you'd like..."

"Actually, Agent Dunham is the reason why I've come," Broyles said, waving his hand at Walter's proposal.

"Is something the matter?" Astrid asked. Judging from Broyles' dour expression, she knew that her question was redundant.

"Yes," he paused before he continued. "Agent Dunham has requested a transfer - a transfer that I approved of this morning."

The tension in the lab was so thick that even Gene was silent, until a loud crash made her jump and she walked backwards towards the wall in her pen. Astrid glanced over at Peter, who was standing over a large pile of broken glass and a stack of books laying haphazardly at his feet; he ran a hand through his hair.

"Where did she go?" he asked. His voice was thick with emotion, but he refused to turn and face the group of people that stood behind him. He hadn't meant to shout, but the emotional strain was taking a toil on him. Normally, Broyles wouldn't let anyone take that tone with him, but he understood the situation better than Peter thought that he did.

"New York," he answered calmly, talking directly to the back of Peter's head. "She's with the FBI's counter-terrorism unit now. She'll be working with the unit assigned to the Visitors."

Armed with this new piece of information, Peter charged towards the doors, passing so close to Broyles that he had to turn slightly to avoid hitting Peter as he stormed out of the lab, slamming the doors behind him.

"... Agent Dunham...?" Walter looked completely lost and as his eyes brimmed with tears, he put the palms of his hands down on his thighs and tried to form words in his gaping mouth. Astrid was at his side instantly, rubbing a comforting hand up and down his arm.

She knew that going after Peter would be stupid, useless, pointless. Her only course of action was to look at Broyles pleadingly, and although he sympathized with Astrid, he could only sigh and shake his head. He left Astrid then, to take care of Walter, and to pick up the broken pieces.

/

Erica Evans threw her keys into a bowl in the front hall. They hit the sides of the bowl with a loud emclink/em and lay flay in the dusty bottom. Tyler made the bowl for her when he was 5 as a kindergarten Mother's Day project. A hand-made clay bowl: he had used too much water and the sides were too thin. His teacher told him that it probably would hold up in the kiln but, despite its imperfections, cracks and structural weaknesses, it survived and held together all these years.

The kitchen was cold and dark; unwashed dishes laid in the sink with their caked on messes, memories of long ago dinners eaten alone. She rubbed her hands through her hair, debating on lights and maybe a sweater. Erica decided on tea, if only for the sound it made when it boiled. At least it was warm. Her house was empty, quiet, and although that didn't come as a surprise to her, she was still unaccustomed to the idea that she was living alone.

She resisted the urge to check her phone for the umpteenth time. There would be no messages from her son, none from a partner saying that they broke a case, nothing at all from anyone. Erica stared blankly at her phone, sipping hot tea without sugar or milk, waiting for no one to call her.

Erica was loosing the war. Not the alien invasion brought on by a venomous queen, convinced that she was right and just in her actions, but the war that ragged on between her and her son. Her only son, seventeen year old Tyler, was drifting away from her faster than she would like to have admitted. She knew that but she couldn't bring herself to admit it out loud. Erica closed her eyes, feeling utterly defeated. She rubbed her forehead with two fingers, dipping her head down, not bothering to set down her hot mug. She decided on a shower before the first tear fell.

The water was scalding, turning her skin lobster red from the moment she stepped foot in the shower. A heavy head of steam flooded her bathroom, making it difficult to see and to breathe. She closed her eyes, letting the hot water drip off the top of her head. Resting her head against the tiles, she thought about her first partner with the FBI's counter terrorism unit.

For several years, she and Dale Maddox worked together, side by side; Erica still had his cell phone number memorized. He supported her the way good friends do in times of trouble, never failing to make her smile. She relied on him and he could keep her away from the brink better than anyone else could. Even better than Joe and she never suspected a thing, but hindsight is always twenty twenty; it all made so much sense to her now. He had left clues along the way, dropping hints about who he really was and whether that was intentional or not, she had no idea.

She remembered it all so well: the betrayal, the moment she realized that she had been duped all these years. Taken for the the fool she was, she closed her eyes, fighting back tears. It was the look that he gave her, right before he attacked, declaring his allegiances, making her well aware of where he stood. Angry and hate-filled, it was as if she was the one who had taken the last years of his life away from him, as if emher kind/em was responsible for him being here. Dale attacked her, striking at her like the criminals they fought against together, that they had protected each other from; there was no one to protect her now. Her worst nightmare had come true and she was left hanging between waking and sleeping.

She had dreams about him: the worst dream was when he held Tyler at gunpoint with her own gun. emYou left your gun in my car/em he hissed angrily before he pulled the trigger and woke her up from the nightmare. Erica shook her head frantically, desperate to push the memory away from her mind. She pulled the shower curtain aside and stepped out on to the matt and reached for her towel. Stopping short of a panic attack, Erica buried her head in her hands and sunk down to her knees. There was no one to protect her now, her newest partner proved that to her.

She never trusted Malik, there was always something... off about her. Difficult to read, coy and closed off; Erica ignored the warning signs, ignored the gut feeling that she had out of fear that she was emright/em. She let it swell and fester until it grew up out of the ground, ugly and awful. She allowed for Malik's death; as a V, she was the enemy, no business being here in the first place, and had no right to live. The ends often justify the means in war and this war was compelling her to loose more and more pieces of herself for the sake of everyone else around her. The person who she made out of hard work and dedication was slowly disappearing and even though Malik's death was necessary, it cracked Erica from the bottom up. Nothing would ever rid her of the pain and the guilt that she still carried around with her.

Erica was lost, a ship without sails drifting in the night towards the unknown, leaving pieces of driftwood floating behind her. Brokenhearted, like so many times before in this new life that was suddenly and without warning hers, Erica picked herself up off the bathroom floor and made her way down the hall to her bedroom. Exhausted, she collapsed on the bed, trying to remembering to breathe. She lay awake that night, staring at the ceiling, wrapped in a damp towel, not bothering with clothes.

/

The fate of an entire race rested on her shoulders: their success and prosperity depended upon every decision and action that she made. Although few of her people would ever understand that burden, they all respected it, either by mutual agreement or force. Anna didn't care which, but the support of her people guaranteed her allegiance to them, thus creating a relationship of mutual reciprocity. Everything she did was for the protection and advancement of her people, even if it was at the expense of another race and, on the occasion, Anna wondered if human world leaders ever had the same concerns and worries. Her meeting today reaffirmed that but Anna, like all good leaders, kept her thoughts on the matter to herself as she and Marcus marched silently down the halls of Massive Dynamic. They stopped outside a set of office doors and Marcus stepped back, outstretching his hand, and allowing his queen to enter before he did.

"Anna, Marcus, welcome," Nina Sharp extended her hand and Anna took it with a warm smile. Nina motioned for the two of them to sit in front of her desk; Anna took a chair, crossing her legs over top of each other gracefully. She tucked her hands onto her hip and fixated her eyes on the woman in front of her. Marcus looked down at the floor, denying the offer that Nina gave him. He stood a few feet away from his seated queen, ready if she ever needed him to be.

"You have a beautiful building," Anna started. Her first experiences with humans told her that flattery was often the first step in developing a trusting friendship, especially with women.

"Thank you, but I think we should get down to business."

"Of course," Anna agreed. A noticeable chill crept into her voice and she did her best to soften the muscles in her face, relaxing her expression. "You're a busy woman. I certainly understand that. Have you had the chance to review our proposal?"

"I have and I've had some of the best scientists at Massive Dynamic review it too. However, I can't say that we're eager to get started with this plan. We only have preliminary findings, nothing concrete or conclusive as to the long term effects of cortexiphan have only just been discovered and we're hesitant to administer the drug to the Visitors, let alone speed up the process."

"I understand your concern, but I'm trying to build a better world for my people where they have a strong future and I believe that cortexiphan is the key to that future."

"You don't think it's dangerous to administer an untested drug to your people?"

"As I said in our proposal, I have a number of volunteers who are loyal to their leader and who are willing and eager to undergo the first round of tests. Their services will make it safe for the rest of my people to use. We have highly advanced biotechnology that is capable of scanning the body from the cellular level, which will allow us to detect any unintended and potentially harmful side effect - biotechnology that we are willing to share with Massive Dynamic, under the right circumstances, of course."

Nina tipped her chin and Anna knew that she had piqued Nina's interest.

"Imagine what access to our biotechnology could give you," Anna continued, her eyes scrapping over Nina's robotic arm and she smiled, ever so slightly. "Imagine what it could give humanity."

"You have to understand my hesitation to let Massive Dynamic in a situation that could be potentially dangerous to hundreds of Visitors," Nina said, a defiant resilience still clung in her voice.

Anna's head moved to the side slightly, tipping her chin down, her lips still painted with the same smile. "As Dr. Bell said, if you can dream a better world, you can make one, or perhaps travel between them. That's what I want for my people: the ability to travel between both of your worlds. To strengthen the bonds of friendship that already exist between human and Visitor. I want to offer that same token of peace and friendship to the other side, to build new friendships and make the relationship that we have strong for the years to come."

"As much as I appreciate your peaceful endeavors, I don't know how corporative you'll find the other side."

Anna merely smiled as if the news had no barring on her decision. She wore her plastic mask of peace, love, and brotherhood well: it bore no cracks or blemishes, never breaking or fading away. Her mask had everything to do with the prosperity of an entire race and any cracks could lead to the breaking of a whole people's foundation. Anna controlled herself with the same graceful force that she used to control the Vs, drawing on all of her inner strength to get Nina to bend and kneel before her.

"I'm sure they will.." she cocked her chin down to her collar bone in the briefest of moments. "... be happy to receive us once they see what friendship with Vs can offer them. As will the staff here at Massive Dynamic, I'm sure."

"And why would that be, exactly?"

"Because this friendship will allow humankind to explore new medical procedures on unimaginable technologies. The Vs have already given mankind the gift of our healing centers that are capable of curing some of your worst diseases, imagine what's possible for you if you have access to all of our technologies."

"Yes, that is what I'm hoping that our friendship, to use your term, would bring us." Nina said, holding Anna's gaze with a graceful just of her chin.

"I'm told that you're not the head of Massive Dynamic any more," Anna's tone was sickly sweet.

"That's correct," Nina said calmly, refusing to give the V leader what she wanted. Nina was quite used to emotional warfare; her armor was thicker than Anna had anticipated. "Dr. Bell left the company to Dr. Walter Bishop of Boston."

"So, you're not in charge of any of these decisions," the statement was matched by a saccharine smile that failed to phase Nina.

"Dr. Bishop has the utmost faith in me and my decision making abilities."

"I'm sure that's true, however, I'm starting to think that I should pay Dr. Bishop a visit in Boston."

"He's working for the FBI. I'm afraid that they keep him... under tight surveillance, due to his importance and the sensitivity of his work. It might be difficult for you to entertain an audience with him."

Anna blinked, calculating her next move. "I understand that he must be, still, I'm sure I can persuade the FBI... in some form or another." She took a moment to look up and down Nina. "It's a shame that your... accident happened before our arrival. With our technology, we might have been able to save the limb."

Anna stood and reached for Nina's hand, who took it and shook it firmly. She nodded at Marcus, who returned the gesture, before following his queen out of the office.

/

"Why didn't you tell her about the information we've already obtained?" Marcus asked when they were well outside of Massive Dynamic and had they not been walking, Anna would have turned to him in wide-eyed astonishment. His understanding of humanity and their emotional reactions were shallow at best, but he functioned as an outlet for Anna: she could analyze and understand humanity through him.

"Telling Nina about our operative inside of Massive Dynamic and the cortexiphan that she stole would have been pointless."

Marcus waited for her moment of anger to pass before he asked her to continue and her eyes flashed backwards, but she kept walking, and as the two entered the shuttle craft, she answered, controlling the tone in her voice.

"Because we need leverage, Marcus. They can't know that our operative has already been to the alternate universe and that she brought technology back with her that we can use against the humans. Leverage, Marcus. We need them to think that we need them, that we need this friendship just as much as they do, because, when the time comes, we can crush them from the inside out, before they even realize what's going on," Anna's eyes glinted and a smirk pulled at the corners of her mouth, revealing her human teeth: white and pristine.

"What about the Bliss?" Marcus hissed quietly into her ear, glancing around them to make sure that they didn't have any unwanted company.

Anna almost laughed - it got caught up in her throat and she nearly choked on the foreign feeling. "If cortexiphan can enhance the range and intensity of my Bliss, then the V-members of the fifth column won't stand a chance against me."

"My Queen, you know that my number one concern is your safety, so you'll forgive me if I ask if it's wise to play the most powerful woman in the world?"

"She's no longer the most powerful woman in the world," Anna said curtly. "Pay a visit to Dr. Bishop. I want to know if he's a threat to our plans."

"I'll send a sleeper V as soon as we return to the ship."

"Good," she paused a moment, lowering the tone of her voice. "Also, prepare for a press conference. I want to announce our latest gift to the human race."

Marcus nodded. "Anything else, My Queen?"

"Yes. Inform Joshua - I want to prepare the first round of experiments. I'm not willing to rest the fate of my people on one woman's trepidation's. I'm ready to begin and I want the test subjects ready as soon as possible."

"I have a group of newly discovered fifth column V ready when we return to the ship."

Anna smiled softly. "They're all in bed with one another," she muttered.

Marcus turned to her sharply. "I'm afraid I don't understand, My Queen," he said, genuinely confused.

"A human expression. It's simple Marcus. They're all so close together - Massive Dynamic, the FBI, the government - each one of them work with each other, but they all have secret agendas of their own that they refuse to share with each other. They're so close that they won't notice us sneaking up on them until it's too late."

"By which time, we'll have already begun an invasion into the other side."

"Exactly. With cortexiphan, I can start to send V soldiers to the other side, enhance my Bliss and have complete and utter control over humanity and the Vs."

Marcus lowered his head in agreement and Anna's eyes glinted; the corners of her mouth upped into a tight smile. They were silent as the shuttle craft doors hissed shut.

/

Waking up in a cold and damp towel, Erica couldn't stop shivering until she was under the shower for at least a half hour. She hadn't slept a wink that night and even before she walked into work, she was looking for a reason get out of the office for the day. The second that Paul Kendrick spotted her and ushered her into his office. Erica closed her eyes and bottled everything up. She refused to crack or buckle in front of anyone. Erica swallowed and walked into Kendrick's office.

There was another woman sitting in front of his desk; she stood when Erica walked into the room. She was shorter than Erica but that wasn't so uncommon. She was tiny, thin, and lithe, with her blonde hair was slicked back into a long pony tail, the ends of which were draped over one shoulder. She wore a black pantsuit with a white blouse that suddenly made Erica feel rather unprofessional in her slacks and cotton shirt.

"Erica Evans, this is your new partner," Kendrick explained.

"Hi, Olivia Dunham," she stretched out her hand and Erica took it, returning the smile that Olivia offered.

"Nice to meet you," Erica said.

Erica was taken aback by Olivia. Her handshake was firm, her eyes were bright and eager, but there was something beneath her... something that Erica could see, could recognize, possibly because it was happening to her too. Olivia was slowly breaking; bits of pieces were falling off of her delicate frame and were landing at Erica's feet. As Erica looked at Olivia, she could tell that something had her by the throat and that Olivia could only pull back far enough to gasp for a few short breaths before the grip tightened around her neck and threatened her very existence.

Olivia suddenly realized that Erica could see her, could really see her, and she dropped Erica's hand and rested her head against her chest, looking down at the floor and away from Erica's gaze. She was loosing control of herself and no matter how deep she buried her emotions, they always seemed to surface at the most inopportune moment. She took a slow and deep breath that she hoped would go unnoticed by the other woman.

"You've been briefed on the Visitors?" Erica asked as she watched Olivia breathe, folding her arms across her chest.

Olivia nodded. "In Boston, we were monitoring the situation closely. I'm sure our offices were in contact with each other, but my assignment... didn't have much to do with them, so I haven't had as much experience with them as you have."

"Well, I'll let you two get aquatinted. Evans, bring Dunham up to speed on your currant assignment," Kendrick said before he opened the door, dismissing them both into the sea of chatter and ringing phones. Erica nodded, never taking her eyes off of Olivia. She lead Olivia over to the empty desk that faced her own, gesturing for her to sit.

Olivia looked around the room expectantly but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing in the room, no object, no body, glimmered. Everything was normal, the normal she had come to accept that was apart of her universe. She allowed herself a faint smile, relieved and suddenly content that this decision had been the right one. She looked up at her new partner: Erica had faint bruises along the side of her head and scratches near the hollow of her eye; she looked pale and tired, as if something was keeping her up late, robbing her of much needed sleep and relaxation. Olivia was suddenly self conscious about her own late-night preoccupations

"Who is this?" Olivia asked, shifting her eyes from Erica's face to the picture on her desk, if only to break the obvious gaze. She picked it up off of Erica's desk.

"My son, Tyler," there was a faint smile when Erica answered her. Olivia nodded and put the frame back down on her desk. "You're from Boston, you said?"

"Yeah," Olivia said, hesitant to relive the situation, wondering how far Erica wanted to take this. "I... I needed a change of scenery -" Olivia stopped suddenly, sucking her lips into her mouth. She gathered her hands together and leaned into her arms for support. It was too much too soon and Olivia regretted the statement as soon as it was out of her mouth. Much to her surprise, Erica nodded with a slight smile on her face.

"I can definitely understand that," Erica clasped her hands together and leaned on her elbows. Olivia expected her to say something else but nothing came out.

There was an awkward silence between the two, neither knowing what they should say or where they should go from here. The air around them was thick with apprehension and for a moment, each of them let the other read into it, forming their own opinions and ideas about the other. They watched each other, their eyes scraped over layers of protective shells that were caked on after necessity and survival instinct begged for them. Careful and guarded, they both screamed in silence for normality - but they each carried far too much emotional baggage for their partnership to ever be considered normal.

It was all too much and Erica picked up her cellphone suddenly. Tapping it a few times, she put it back in her pocket. "Well, I'm late for a meeting," Erica was suddenly up on her feet. "Can I give you a lift somewhere?"

"Um, no," Olivia said. Erica's sudden dismissal confused Olivia and she didn't fall for the emergency message fake-out. She narrowed her eyes but Erica didn't seem to notice. "I drove today. I still need to get used to the city. But I think I'll go through the files and reports there are on the Visitors."

Erica nodded and started collecting her things; it seemed as though she was only half listening to Olivia. "I'll see you tomorrow then," Erica picked her keys up off of the desk, turning to leave.

"Yup," Olivia nodded at Erica's back. "See you then," she was left to the mundane office chatter and scrutinizing eyes of a superior officer from behind a closed blind.

/

Erica made her way down the cement staircase to Hobbes' secret hideaway. With her hand on the doorknob, she hesitated for a moment, although she wasn't sure of the reason why. The noise hit her faster than she could carry herself down the stairs.

The basement was buzzing, which was unusual - Sydney was busy at his computer with Ryan beside him, Hobbes was cleaning something that glinted in the low lamp light, while Jack and Lisa sat together at the other end of the desk - everyone sitting with someone, close to someone. They were all connected to each other somehow, whether they liked it or not, and despite having some connection with them, Erica felt alone, as if this fight was her own and no one else's. Like a beacon in the night, she approached Lisa without looking at anyone else.

"Hey, Lisa. What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Mrs. Evans. Father Jack is giving me a lesson."

"A Bible lesson?" she smiled, amused by the prospect.

"Yeah, I just wanted to know what it's all about."

"She's proving to be an excellent student," Jack said proudly and Lisa beamed at him, like a child receiving praise for a good report card.

"I'm glad to hear it. Look I have some things I need to discuss..."

"Uh, I was just about to meet Tyler," Lisa said suddenly. She stood, stuffing a Bible into a small backpack and headed up the stairs. "Thanks again, Father."

"Bye, Lisa," Jack turned his attention to Erica. She looked stressed, her face was tight and she had her arms crossed over her chest. "You okay?" he asked and Erica jumped at the sound of his voice. He reached out a hand and squeezed her wrist, trying to reassure her, calm her with his presence; he looked genuinely concerned for her.

"Sorry," she smiled sheepishly and brushed her hand over his. "I just have a few things on my mind."

"Tyler?"

"No, luckily enough, not this time."

"What is it?"

Erica sighed softly, opening her mouth and pushing the breath from her lungs. She rubbed her forehead with her fingers. "I have a new partner."

Everything in the basement seemed to stop, all of the busy chatter that Erica walked into came to a grinding halt and circled its way around her.

"Who?" Hobbes demanded.

"Her name is Olivia Dunham. She transfered from Boston."

"Why?"

"I don't know Hobbes, all I know is that she's here and is my new partner."

"Isn't that good?" Jack asked, almost privately, trying to deflect some of the attention she was generating.

Erica shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know who she is, I mean, I have her file, she's told me a little bit about herself, but that's all."

They were all silent for a moment; the gravity in the room was overbearing and it was getting more and more difficult to breathe.

"Can we trust her?" Hobbes finally asked, breaking the silence and addressing the problem that no one else wanted to bring up.

"Does it matter?" She looked up at him with defeated eyes and Jack ached for her, about to say something, about to take her elbow in his hands, reassuring her that everything was going to be alright. He was only slightly surprised when she pulled away from him and back into herself.

"We're going to have to find out somehow. Look, if she pulls something, just let me know." Everyone turned to Hobbes, who just sat smirking in the corner, cleaning his best hunting knife.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Erica demanded. She was suddenly tired: tired of the fight, tired of the position that she was thrown into, tired of the fact that she couldn't trust people anymore. Perhaps irrationally, she felt suddenly protective, suddenly defensive for her new partner, who had done nothing but simply exist in the same space that Erica occupied. That alone was enough evidence and indictment was made.

"I'm just saying we don't know this woman - you barely know her - and you don't seem to have a good track record when it comes to partnerships," Hobbes said, his tone grew louder and harsher but he made no other movement. He and Erica locked eyes until Jack broke them out of their stare by clearing his voice.

"He's right, Erica," he said softly, looking directly into her eyes.

Erica sighed, relenting. She nodded her head in agreement. "I know," she said closing her eyes for a moment. "I know he is."

"So," Hobbes continued. "You're going to have to vet her."

"How?" Erica was suddenly angry again. She focused her anger at Hobbes and although he had a point that she understood and agreed with, she didn't want to emhave/em to do it. The second betrayal was hard enough to deal with. A third was almost unthinkable.

"I don't know, you're going to have to figure out whether or not she's on their side or on ours before it's too late."

"I suppose that asking her is out of the question?" Erica asked, slightly amused by the situation. She looked up at Jack in search of some support, but hung her head, releasing a sigh when she met his gapping look.

"Yes, it is," Hobbes answered. "Everyone passes the test with a cut on the back of their head. If we find skull bone on this Olivia Dunham, then fine, we know that she's safe, that you're safe..." Hobbes cleared his throat, looking away from Erica's eyes. "You're going to have to do it, Erica."

"Well, wait," Ryan said suddenly, looking at Hobbes angrily. "What if she is a V but supports the fifth column?"

Erica looked up at him, flickers of hope danced in her eyes, until Hobbes laid his knife down on a metal table, its clinking filled her with pessimism.

"Well, then you bring her to me," Hobbes didn't look at Ryan. He focused his attention on Erica. "I'll find out who's side she's on."

Erica looked to Jack for some support on the matter but he said nothing, only swallowed, nodding in agreement. He refused to meet her eyes and the feeling of isolation was only met by it's constant companion, defeat. Erica couldn't admit to anyone, not even to Jack, how much that prospect scared her: the idea of another partner betraying her made her sick and light headed. The image Malik's body hanging beaten, bloodied, and broken flashed before her eyes before she saw Dale laying on the concrete floor with a part of his human skull ripped open. But despite it all, all of the emotion she still carried with her, all of her hesitation and fear of what could be, she had to admit that they were right.

Defeated, Erica rubbed the bridge of her nose with her forefinger. "Alright. I'll... vet her." She opted to leave before anyone else had time to question her or her motives.

/

"It's just the two of us on this?" Olivia asked, fiddling with her ear piece, adjusting the clear cord that trailed behind her head.

Erica nodded grimily. An unconscious hand grazed her hip where her gun was secured. "We have a few back up junior agents but I don't know if they have enough experience for an event like this. I don't want them to find out the hard way that they can't hold their own in a high stress situation."

Olivia arched a silent eyebrow, not bothering to offer a defense of junior agents, even though she knew one who proved herself to be quite capable in any given situation. "Why didn't the Vs give us enough time to set up a proper protection detail?"

"That's how Anna works," Erica said raising an eyebrow and shrugging one shoulder lightly. "We've got a press conference held by the leader of the Vs and only a few FBI agents to keep the peace."

"And everyone's alright with that?"

"Yes," Erica shrugged her shoulders, not looking particularly pleased with the situation.

"I guess it's just me and you then."

Erica nodded, surveying the room. "Check out the woman in the black hat and sunglasses, standing off to the side there," Erica motioned with her eyes to a woman of small stature with dark red hair, a woman who Olivia knew very well. "She's been talking with Anna for the last few minutes. The two seem rather cozy together."

"Nina Sharp. I had no idea Massive Dynamic is working with the Vs."

"I knew her in Boston. We... worked together."

Erica nodded. "Anything we should be aware of?"

"You never know with Nina."

Erica moved away from Olivia to the other side of the room, while Olivia stayed where she was, watching everyone, and taking particular note of the tall, bald man, in a pin stripped suit and a bowler hat, standing in the corner. Her attention was brought back to the stage as Anna walked across it with Marcus closely behind her and the crowd burst into applause.

"I'm here today to give our new friends a gift of new technology," Anna paused to smile. She stepped away from the podium and held out her hand, palm side up, revealing a small external ear bud.

Olivia watched from the side of the room, suddenly completely and utterly focused on the object in Anna's hand. It was exactly the same thing that they used on the other side and it glimmered. It emfucking/em glimmered.

"This is a personal communication device," Anna continued, keeping a sweet smile on her face and her hand outstretched so numerous reporters and photographers could zero in on the device. "It fits into your ear and with one simple tap, you're instantly connected to anyone of your choosing - from loved ones overseas to friends just down the street, you'll never again be away from anyone you care about."

It all hit Olivia at once, like a tonne of bricks breaking free from their beams and crushing her delicate frame on contact. She was suddenly strapped to a chair again, IVs shoving drugs into her system and the only thing keeping her sane was a fragment of her memory, taking Peter's form.

Running far and as fast as she could, Olivia made her triumphant return and the look on Astrid's face when they made eye contact for the first time in months before Olivia collapsed on to the floor, relived and exhausted.

em... not again ... not again ... not again ... /em

Olivia blinked rapidly, trying to focus at the task at hand. She looked up and over at her partner who had her eyes squarely fixed on Anna. Olivia took a deep breath and re-centered herself, reciting a mantra of encouragement and self affirmation over and over until she actually believed what she was saying. The world started spinning around her until it all turned black and she fell from it, until she hit the ground.

"This technology will bring mankind benefits unlike anything you've experienced before. We want to give our new friends this technology so that they can stay in contact with their loved ones no matter where they are in the world," as the crowd gave Anna an enthusiastic applause, she gave the crowd one last smile before she turned and existed the stage, followed by Marcus closely behind her.

Erica turned to see where Olivia was, only to find her spinning and falling to the ground like a dead leaves caught up in a winter wind. It took Erica a moment to realize that Olivia wasn't getting up, that emsomething/em had happened: she was down for the count and this was Erica's moment.

Scooping her up, Erica lay Olivia's head on her lap, wrapping her arm around the top of Olivia's head, Erica stroked her face with her other hand, pushing her hair from her face. Olivia swallowed and opened her mouth to say something.

"Shush," Erica said, silencing Olivia by laying a finger over her lips. "You're okay. You're going to be okay..." Carefully, Erica twisted Olivia's head away from her body so Olivia couldn't see Erica pull out a small pocket knife from her jacket pocket. The paramedics were rushing towards them and with only the slightest hesitation, Erica cut a V-shape into the delicate skin behind Olivia's ear.

Panicked, she was suddenly awake, momentarily recovered from her episode, Olivia cried out suddenly, clenching her fists and contracting the muscles in her legs, but Erica held her down as she peeled the skin back, finding skull bone and blood.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Erica produced a small circular Spider Man bandage from her jacket pocket - left over from they days of scrapped knees and wounded hands from when her son was a child. She placed the bandage over Olivia's cut, pressing it gently to the cut; Erica cradled Olivia's head in her lap, rocking her gently.

"Erica..." Olivia rasped, turning her head to Erica.

"Yeah?" she couldn't look at Olivia - she focused on the paramedics that surrounded them, prying Olivia off of Erica's lap.

"I think... my ear is bleeding..."

Erica stood and stepped back as the paramedics strapped an oxygen mask over Olivia's face. She crossed her arms over her chest and watched tight lipped; she wondered when this delicate house of cards would fall in around them.

**/**

Erica didn't know where anything in Olivia's apartment was but her skills as an investigator were proving their worth when she found tea bags, a kettle and some mugs. Wrapping Olivia up in a blanket that she found on the couch, Erica sat Olivia down at her kitchen table, setting a cup of tea down in front of her. Olivia didn't say anything as she wrapped her fingers around it, downing the hot liquid before Erica could set a bottle of honey down on the table. Erica slid into a chair across from Olivia and waited expectantly.

Olivia watched Erica work, gathering everything that they might need, even though neither of them really wanted anything at all. When Erica sat down across from her, Olivia began to finger bits of crumb that littered themselves across the table; Erica waited patiently for her to start and after she a few sips of her hot tea, Olivia took a shaky breath and began to speak.

"There are two of everything, people and objects, they exist simultaneously in a universe parallel to ours. There's even another you - somewhere, doing something. She is the same as you - she looks exactly like you, talks like you, even makes the same decisions that you would make. She's genetically identical to you in every way..." Olivia trailed off unexpectedly, sucking her lips into her mouth and biting down on them. She was keeping something down, something that was about to burst to the surface, something she couldn't keep down any longer.

"I can see it... things, people, from the other side. They... they glimmer. Objects, people, everything from the other side glimmers... Peter glimmered," Olivia heard a loud gasp from across the table; she couldn't even lift her head to make eye contact with the other woman. Olivia squeezed her eyes closed and continued with her story.

"Peter found out that his father brought him over from the other side after this universe's Peter died. He disappeared shortly after that and his real father, the other side's Walter, found him and took him back."

"So you went after him."

Olivia nodded again. "I wanted to tell him... tell him that I needed him. That he belonged with me... I thought... I don't know what I thought. It was stupid." She stopped, visually shutting down in front of Erica, who poured her another cup of tea. Olivia wrapped her hands around the mug; Erica waited for the heat to revitalize Olivia so she could continue her story.

"I got trapped there, on the other side. They tried to make me forget, forget who I am, forget about everything, but this... figment of him, of Peter, reminded me of who I am... of what I needed to do. I held on to him and he brought me back."

"It wasn't so simple, was it?"

She shook her head emno/em. "She had come back too... the other Olivia... she replaced me here while I was trapped on the other side. She had everyone fooled. My family, everyone I work with, Peter... no one could tell that it wasn't me. No one knew that I was being held prisoner on the other side. She infiltrated my life and..." Olivia struggled, remembering how to breathe. "... she took over the one thing I believed in."

Erica didn't say anything but she didn't have to. The air in the room changed and a thick, heavy cloud hung over the two women. Erica opened her mouth to say something but was cut off when Olivia nodded, confirming what Erica already knew.

"He knows now though, doesn't he?"

"Yeah and he apologized but ... I don't know."

"And that's why you left?"

Olivia nodded again. She couldn't met Erica's eyes.

Erica was silent for a few moments after Olivia stopped talking. She let Olivia compose herself before Erica slid a hand across the table and squeezed Olivia's with her own.

"I'm sorry that happened to you, Olivia."

Olivia nodded and squeezed back. She pulled away quickly, sniffing and smiling sheepishly at Erica who passed her a box of tissues.

"Olivia, what happened to you today?"

"The ear piece that Anna presented today... it glimmered."

"It's from the other side?"

Olivia nodded. "It has to be. That's the only way."

"How do you think she got it?"

"The only way she could is if she, or someone close to her, has been to the other side."

"Is that even possible?"

"I don't think anything is impossible anymore," Olivia said. "We're going to have to find out."

Erica nodded weakly and drank the last drops of her chilling tea. Olivia watched her carefully, thinking about how exactly it was that they were brought them together.

"It seems like we were both made for this," Olivia said smirking mirthlessly.

"We must have been," Erica agreed.

They looked at each other not bothering to smile, but they could read each other clearly. There was ... emsomething/em, beneath all the heart ache and bitterness, there was something that tied them together, giving them both a small flicker of...

... Hope. The feeling was completely foreign to Erica, the hope that they could perhaps win this war. Erica was lost, that much was obvious. Uncertain and unsure of exactly what she should be emdoing/em to get herself and everyone else out alive. Beneath it all, hidden deep down, under layers of protection that crystallized her insides, she was frozen solid in an unforgiving sea of heartache and betrayal. She raised an eyebrow at her partner who let out a slow breath; she peaked Olivia's attention. Olivia made her cautiously optimistic of the morning to come, its sunrise pulling her free of this self made prison.

Olivia pulled her arms up, crossing them over her chest. Erica recognized the motion, not as a defensive position, but as something that she did when she was unsure, careful, calculating her next move.

"It's nice..."

Erica glanced up and waited patiently for Olivia to continue. She knew her new partner well enough to know that prodding her would only push her further into herself and Erica didn't want to run that risk.

"... to have someone..."

Olivia felt stupid immediately, chiding herself on what exactly prompted her to get so personal with someone she had only just met. Her shoes were suddenly a great interest to her and she debated how she could slip out the door without being noticed.

"... who gets it," Erica finished for her.

Olivia's head snapped up. Erica had been looking directly at Olivia's hanging head when she spoke. The two made eye contact and for the first time, held each other's gaze without scrutinizing one another.

"I think," Erica said slowly, still holding Olivia's eyes with hers. "That we... we have a lot in common."

Olivia nodded; a smile crept up her pale cheeks, toying with the corners of her mouth, but she suppressed the motion; the world wouldn't let her forget that easily.

"But, there are some things you just can't wash off," Olivia said looking anywhere but Erica's face.

Feeling suddenly desperate, Erica needed to fight for herself and for Olivia. She needed emsomething/em to believe in; she couldn't keep the desperation out of her voice.

"I know. But that doesn't mean we can't get better... " Erica trailed off and where she stopped, Olivia was there.

"... we could be better together."

Erica looked up at Olivia and smiled, deep, bright and happy. Olivia bit her bottom lip, but her eyes were the happiest Erica had seen.

"We can do this together," Erica said. She was resolved, determined and suddenly, unexpectedly happy. The feeling elevated Erica and she sat up straight, pulling her head up; the feeling flooded her eyes and she gasped lightly as it filled her chest.

Olivia caught it quickly, the emotion swept over her like an antivirus, curing her from all the sadness in the world and dispelling the toxic air that hung over her.

"Yeah. I think we can," she said, slowly starting to believe in this new partnership.

Erica shifted suddenly, looking at Olivia with narrowed eyes. "I have to take you to meet some people tomorrow."

The sudden change in Erica's tone caught Olivia off guard and she shifted her feet uncomfortably, hugging herself tighter.

"Who?"

"A group of people. I... I work with them. I can't explain now," Erica stood, pushing herself away from the table and headed towards Olivia's apartment door.

"Alright..." she followed Erica to the door.

"I'll pick you up," Erica had one hand on the door knob, but dropped it and turned to Olivia. "Are you going okay to be by yourself tonight?"

Olivia smiled weakly. "Yeah. The back of my ear hurts a little from when I fell but I think I'm fine. I'll just have a bath and go to bed."

Erica nodded. She reached out a hand and gripped Olivia on the arm, over her elbow., smiling as Olivia leaned into her touch. "Okay. You can call me anytime. Call me if you need to talk."

Olivia nodded. She looked exhausted but a sense of relief settled into her eyes, making her face look lighter.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Erica nodded, smiling. She turned and left without another word.

**End of Part One **

**Part Two **

Tense and frustrated, he drank himself into oblivion before he stumbled home, only to find his worried father shuffling around the living room in a house coat, clinging to a cold cup of hot milk. Peter buried his head in his hands as he leaned against the front door, closing it with his back, waiting for his father to say... emsomething/em and when he didn't, all of Peter's memories, everything he remembered about Olivia from over there and Olivia from here came crashing back and the sheer weight of the guilt flooded him, making him crack, breaking down to the floor.

She was exactly the same as what he remembered - her touch, her smell, the way her nose crinkled when she was truly happy - but it wasn't her, and his mistake had cost them dearly. He was devastated for her, for himself, and for the relationship that would never be. This love, their love, was supposed to set him free, turn him into the man that he desperately wanted to be, the man that she could count on, call on, and trust in every way. A love that would have healed her of all her wounds and let her live the life that she deserved, that was stolen from her by her father and his partner's selfish actions. He wanted desperately to be the one that took away all of the pain his family had inflicted on her and so many other children. He thought he was: he thought that he was helping her, that when she came back from the other side, she was finally ready to receive that love. He lay next to her in the deepest, darkest of nights, fully prepared to give his full heart to her, thinking that she would have accepted it and him, entirely.

But it wasn't that she wasn't ready, it wasn't that she wasn't ready for him or that she wouldn't have accepted him - it was that it wasn't emher at all/em and that he failed to protect her, to notice emher/em and to do anything to help. At the end of it all, Olivia rescued herself and the title of White Knight went to someone much more deserving, someone who had more practice than he would ever have in his lifetime. It went to Olivia, the Olivia from this side, reaffirming that once again, she was alone. The realization hurt, just as much as the sound of shuffling slippered-feet against the hardwood floor Peter heard. He raised his head, if only to wipe the tears from his eyes and relieve the pressure building up in this head, and saw his father slowly approaching.

Walter crouched down in front of him and for a moment Peter thought that he could accept his father, accept anything that the man had to offer him, but it was too much too soon and too little too late all at the same time and the anger in him burst into a solid rage. He was on his feet, throwing himself across the room, in anger and fear and utter defeat, but he was still too drunk to coordinate himself correctly, and he fell over his own feet and on to his knees. Peter stopped for a moment and closed his eyes and breathed, letting the storm quiet down. Tears spilled out in solid, never breaking streams from beneath closed eyelids as he mourned for his loss, for Olivia's, and for a love that was never to be. Something touched him and a sudden warmth crept through his shirt and into his skin, traveling through his bloodstream to his heart. His eyes shot open and slowly Walter came into focus. as a force that was surprisingly stronger than it seemed, pulled Peter upwards to his feet.

"Now Peter," Walter said, pausing for breath and collecting his thoughts. "Agent Dunham isn't gone for good... she just needed a change... you understand how she would have felt..."

Peter could feel his father's gaze scraping over the layers of self-loathing he managed to cake on in the last few hours and although would have liked nothing more than to emlet him in/em but the last of the walls wouldn't go down and he refused to hear what Walter had to say. Peter shook his head violently, like a child who disobeyed the simplest of orders from a concerned parent. He needed to hear everything that Walter was trying to tell him, but the pain was so difficult to get through that Peter was willing to let himself choke on every mistake he had made, but he knew that his father would never accept that.

"She'll come back to -" Walter continued to fight but stopped mid-sentence when his son finally looked at him. Peter's heart was breaking in front of Walter, and although Peter was desperate for something, for anyone or anything to fix it for him, there was only one person with that power, and she was gone, without a word, leaving him at the crash site to fend for himself. Peter looked back down at the floor and tried not to crack in front of his father, who was growing more and more desperate to heal all of his son's wounds and fix the look of anguish on his face.

"It's not your fault, son... You didn't know, none of us knew... none of us could see the truth..." Walter swallowed but Peter didn't respond and he didn't move. He was anchored to the ground, trapped in an alcoholic veil combined with a weight of sadness hung around him like a heavy cloud, obstructing his vision and penetrating his ears. He could hear Walter, good and clear, but he just couldn't emunderstand/em him. The sigh his father released was filled with disappointment and it mixed with the rest of the air's toxicity.

"She'll come back, Peter... she's not gone for good..." Walter continued. He was repeating himself, but this time the urgency in his voice was apparent, and he stepped forward, trying to wrap his arms around his son, but Peter's reaction was opposite from what Walter had hoped.

"Don't! Just don't!" Peter pushed Walter's arms away from him angrily. Walter's cup flew across the room and milk spilled on to the hardwood floor amid shatters of broken clay. Walter stepped back and put his shaking hands down. Walter swallowed and tried to follow Peter's eyes, but he stumbled away from him and towards the staircase, fumbling up to his bedroom. He could hear Walter from down the stairs shuffle from that spot on the floor to the couch; it's springs squeaked as he sat down. Peter paused at the top of the stairs as endless thoughts circled around his head. They were still clouded in too much alcohol, fear and anger; he couldn't understand anything any more and there was only one solution left for him.

He didn't pack much and he didn't think about what he needed, aside from a few basic necessitates. He didn't want to run again - especially since his first departure took him back home and ended with her being held prisoner over there, while her exact double took her place over here. It wasn't his fault, it wasn't her fault. Subconsciously he knew that and knew that Olivia knew it too, but if she could run, then so could she and he could not shake the feelings of regret. The strings that pulled him away the first time were yet again tugging at him, but this time it was with a force he had never felt before; he succumbed to her siren call and now he was at the mercy of the swirling aftermath that consumed him whole.

He stumbled back downstairs and found his father sitting on the couch staring at the broken cup on the floor; the smell of milk permeated the air. Peter looked at his father and waited for him to look up at him, but he didn't: he just sat there, staring at the milk, at the broken cup, at the empty space that surrounded it. Saying anything else would have been moot and Peter suddenly realized that everything Walter had to say, that he tried to say, had all been said and there was nothing left for either of them. He waited as long as he could; moments before his insides burst from him in attempted escape, Peter marched his sobering-self out the door and slammed it behind him.

The front door closed with a harsh bang and as he drove off to the middle of nowhere, he wondered how long it would be before Walter was on the phone, calling Astrid and asking her to come and help him clean up the puddle of milk seeped through the hardwood floor.

**/**

"Do you mind if we swing past my house? I just need to grab my other laptop."

Olivia laughed and shook her head. "You're the driver."

"That's true," Erica said smiling. "But I want to make sure you're doing alright."

"Yeah, I feel fine."

"Okay, I'll take you home after I grab my things."

"Are you going back to the office?"

"Uh... yeah... I have some work to do."

Olivia was slightly annoyed by Erica's seemingly habitual offering of just enough, but not too much information: if Erica was a suspect, Olivia would automatically assume her guilty, but she left the ambitious answer and watched the trees pass by. They were quiet until they pulled into Erica's driveway and up to the house.

"Do you mind if I use your washroom?" Olivia asked, in genuine need of the facilities.

"No, of course not," Erica said as she unlocked the front door and Olivia followed her inside. "It's upstairs, first door on the left."

"Thanks."

Erica's house was cold, as if no one had been in it for days. The staircase creaked as Olivia ascended to the second floor of the house. Old picture frames caked in delicate gray dust aligned the hall way; faded pictures of old family members once filled this house with joy but now, its sadness figured into even these still images.

Washing her hands, the mirror cupboard door was ajar and nothing but curiosity controlled Olivia's hand as she pulled the door open just enough for its contents to spill out and the truth to start its ugly unravelling.

They were laying there, on its side, mocking her: an open box of circular Spider Man band aids laying on the first shelf, the same one that she peeled off of her skin the morning after her incident at Anna's press conference and a question suddenly burst into her mind: "who else would have this?" The indictment already forming in her mind, Olivia ran through the events until she was lying on her back, staring up at Erica's face.

emSomething silver caught her eye before Erica forced her head away and a sharp pain cut into the back of her head. She cried out, she clenched her hands and tried to get up, but a heavy weight held her down and as a voice tried to calm her, something pressed up against her skin and soaked up the sticky wet. /em

She touched the back of her head with two fingers and with aid of a hand-held mirror, she saw the V-shaped cut behind her ear for the first time and understood exactly what had happened. She didn't hit her head when she fell, she had been cut, deliberately, intentionally and the only person who had the opportunity was her partner... her empartner/em.

An intense anger that threatened to pull her apart at the very seams consumed her all at once and she shook so hard that the box fell from her hands and spilled all over the porcelain sink; the realization that her happy new life was neither happy or new hit her and the same pain of disappointment and self-doubt resumed its familiar seat in her heart.

Why on earth had they been left out in the open, in such a disarray that made them so easily discoverable? It was as if... as if they were left there on purpose, as if a grater force compelled them from their hiding place, as if the truth needed to assert itself and another familiar truth crept back into Olivia's mind.

The truth was that love had always broken her heart somehow, in some form and so often so that she had come to expect it as being a part of her life. She was always left hanging, emotional threads that once linked her to something beautiful and wonderful were always cut in half, leaving her unanchored and broken, fraying at all ends and every time she thought emthis one will be different/em it wasn't and the cycle of disappointment and hurt repeated its angry cycle.

Trapped in the swirling damnation of her own mind, Olivia sat on the edge of the bathtub, fingering the circular band-aid with one hand while the other cradled her burning forehead, remembering how to breathe. She held in her hand an inditement of truth and the permanent bruise that lived on her soul grew darker.

She floated out the door and back downstairs to the kitchen, like a displaced ghost looking for its home. She found Erica gathering her things and putting them in her bag; she smiled at Olivia, bright and happy, eyes like a clam day at sea.

"Found everything okay?"

The question was simple but the answer was loaded and Olivia could feel the weight of it pressing down and squeezing out everything that she was expertly containing; the pressure hurt. She looked up at Erica and nodded her head slowly.

"Yes. Everything. I found everything." emI know about everything./em

She walked towards Erica, foot over foot, tiny steps that closed the distance between them faster than she had originally anticipated. Silently, she took the band aid from clenched hands and lay it on the table in front of Erica, who paused slightly before she looked up and asked "What's this?" as lightly as humanly possible.

"This," Olivia said swallowing, her voice raised with each word, "is the same band aid that I had behind my ear this morning."

Everything around them dissolved like questions, disintegrating and becoming part of nothingness and the realization dawned on Erica's face, clouding her delicate features and darkening her eyes. She blinked rapidly as if she couldn't see all of a sudden but Olivia went on.

"Is this cut going to scar?" Olivia looked up and held Erica's eyes with hers and waited for an answer that never came. Erica looked away and suddenly, breathing heavily, but Olivia didn't need her to say anything at all.

"I told you everything. Every detail, every crazy thing that happened to me because I thought I could trust you. Erica, tell me why you did this. Tell me why you cut a V-shape into my head," Olivia's voice was calm but hard and determined yet, underneath, she was shaking, terrified and betrayed.

"I have an army of space aliens threatening to take over Earth, the leader of which have enchanted my son, and, oh yes, two of my most recent partners turned out to be Vs in disguise. So you'll have to excuse me if I didn't take the time out to ask you who's side you were on," Erica yelled, her voice growing higher and higher with each word as if something inside of her finally snapped.

"So you had to prove to yourself who's side I was on?"

"It was the only way to know for sure - the skull bone..."

"The skull bone means I'm human."

Erica nodded and finally looked up at Olivia, waiting for her response.

"Are you satisfied now?" Olivia's tone was deadly; she had the sudden urge to pull her gun and demand that Erica answer for what she had done, but she didn't. Instead, she held her ground and refused to give in.

"Olivia, I had to be sure..." Erica trailed off, not needing to finish her sentence.

Unsympathetic and without regard for her partner's predicament, the swelling rage consumed Olivia once again, despite her best efforts to contain it and it moved up her body at a lightening fast pace. She was unable to control it and her body moved with the force until she was able to contain the outbreak in her throat; its size choked her and she sputtered and gasped for air as her eyes widened in ire. The fury carried her out and away from the woman who could do nothing but stand arms crossed and head bent in a freezing cold kitchen, listening to the sound of a heavy door slamming closed.

/

Olivia Dunham walked out of her apartment building to find Erica sitting on her steps, holding a large Styrofoam coffee cup with a folded piece of paper tucked into the cardboard sleeve sitting on her steps. She narrowed her eyes and almost slammed the door shut before Erica jumped to her feet.

"No, please. Just wait, please?" Erica reached out and grabbed Olivia's elbow with enough force to make Olivia stop and pay attention. "I have this for you." She handed Olivia the cup of coffee making sure that she could see the folded paper. Even though Olivia took it from her, Erica didn't let her arm go.

"Are you going to hold me here while I read this?"

"If I have to, yes."

"Does it say everything you said to me last night?"

Erica pressed her lips together into a straight line. "Yes, it does but -"

Olivia almost laughed. "Then why should I bother reading this?"

"Because you need to understand the truth. I owe you that much." Erica's grip on Olivia's arm loosened to a softer touch using just the pads of her fingers. "Please, Olivia, give me a chance."

She was going to protest but something stopped her and she nodded, taking the note out of the cardboard sleeve, she let Erica hold the cup in one hand, the other still gripped her arm. Olivia sighed when she was finished reading. Erica was right. The note didn't say anything new, nothing that she hadn't expected or even thought of on her own and had she been in Erica's position, she might have done the exact same thing. She had to relent, put her personal feelings aside and focus on the job, the task at hand, the invading army of Vs who were hell bent on taking Earth for their own.

Erica let go of her arm then. "I need to take you to a meeting."

Olivia nodded but didn't say anything.

"I understand that this is going to be difficult for you and I respect that -"

"Erica, please. Just... let's just do our jobs."

Erica nodded. "I'll wait for you... just grab whatever you might need for a few days."

Olivia looked confused. "What kind of meeting is this?"

"It's a training session," Erica answered honestly. "I'll explain more on the way."

Olivia nodded and retreated back into her apartment building to collect some things before coming back down a few minutes later; she joined Erica in her SUV.

"Who are you texting?" She asked, throwing her bag into the back seat.

"Hobbes. I'm letting him know we're on our way."

Olivia looked out the window as they sped out and away from the city together. "So this is the day you're going to teach me the secret handshake?"

Erica pulled out into the busy street and headed away from the city. "Olivia Dunham, welcome to the Fifth Column."

/

Peter stood lurking in the shadows, watching Olivia as she got out of her car and into the door of her new apartment building. There was someone with her - a woman he didn't know or recognize but assumed was her new partner. There was something odd about them. They were standing with a noticeable distance between them. They were awkward around each other, neither talking in anything longer than one word replies to short sentences. Olivia moved to leave but the other woman grabbed her by the arm suddenly and he almost bolted from his hiding place to rescue her.

"Easy there turbo," a slimy voice pulled Peter back from his panic and he turned apprehensively, until he realized who it was - Kyle Hobbes stood behind him, smirking.

Rolling his eyes, Peter turned back to Olivia. She was still standing in the doorway and the other woman still had her by the arm, but Olivia didn't look uncomfortable. She was leaning into the other woman and Peter narrowed his eyes wondering just what their relationship was all about.

"I never thought I'd see you again, Hobbes," Peter said, turning away from him and back to Olivia and her new apartment building.

"What? Save your life and this is the thanks I get?"

"Why are you here, Hobbes?" Peter asked, ignoring the delight in Hobbes' voice.

"Same reason you are," he answered shrugging, motioning to Olivia; Hobbes leaned against the opposite wall of Peter's.

"You don't have to stay," Peter said as dryly as possible.

"You're probably right, but I think a show might begin soon."

"What show, would that be, exactly?"

Hobbes didn't answer. He ran a hand off of his chin, pursing his lips together and waited for something to happen. "Which one do you know?"

"What?" Peter finally turned his head away from Olivia towards Hobbes.

Hobbes jutted his chin forward. "Mine's the taller blonde. She's beautiful, determined, fool-hearty. She rolls her eyes at me, but I'll get her one of these days," Hobbes smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Which one is yours?"

Peter looked away from him and back towards Olivia's apartment. Hobbes' taller blonde had dropped her hand, releasing Olivia from her grasp. Neither of them were speaking and Olivia crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes started darting around the place and she refused to look at the other woman. She took a step back into the building and the other woman went to follow.

"Olivia... Olivia is... was mine," Peter sounded faraway, distant, as if saying her name took him back to a place that was much happier, much better, a place long forgotten in this dystopia. He finally looked away from her as Olivia shut the apartment building door and the other woman turned away slowly and headed back to her vehicle. "You work with her?"

"With who?"

"With Olivia," Peter was getting exasperated by Hobbes' answering with questions that did nothing but prolong their conversation. He looked directly at Hobbes, who's smirk fell and he nodded.

"Yea... in a manner of speaking. I've been working with her," he gestured towards Erica who sat unmoving in her SVU, "for a little longer."

"You must be close with her if you're spying on her from the shadows."

"I could say the same thing about you and your Olivia. Have a lover's quarrel or something?"

"In a manner of speaking... is there a specific reason as to why you're here?"

"I'm spying on your Olivia."

Peter turned wide-eyed at Hobbes, staring at him, debating on whether he should punch him or ask a follow up question. Hobbes caught the look and laughed mirthlessly, as if it offered some sort of futile protection.

"I gotta make sure she's one of us... that she's not working for them. We've lost a lot of people and lizards lately, on their side and on ours."

"Lizards?"

"Don't you know? Your Olivia is working for the Fifth Column now. She got roped in by her new partner -" Hobbes gestured to Erica, who was sending text message after text message in her SVU - "had to make sure she's not one of them first. She didn't take too kindly to that."

Peter narrowed his eyes, but didn't say anything.

"Guess you didn't know about that."

"I haven't talked to her in awhile..."

"No, otherwise you'd be up there in her apartment with her, instead of down here in an alley way, wouldn't you?"

"How is she?" The question slipped from Peter's lips so silently that Hobbes barely heard him speak at all. He shrugged in response, expecting a curt insult from Peter and when he didn't get it, he thought maybe an answer might be more appropriate.

"Fine, I suppose. As fine as one can be having just found out that their world is upside down and a bunch of space alien lizards are trying to take over."

"I guess it's no worse than her last job."

Hobbes laughed again, only this time, he sounded rather amused. "That's what I figured. She said something about crossing over to a parallel universe. Bunch of bull if you ask me."

"I don't think anyone did."

"Did what?"

"Ask you."

"So it's true then?"

Peter paused for a moment, struggling with his answer. He wanted to protect Olivia, protect her now, even though she would never know about it, as if this act would make up for all the other times that he wasn't there for her. But it wouldn't, of course.

"What exactly did she tell you?"

Hobbes shook his head. "Just that."

Peter cocked his head to one side and ran a hand over his face. "Yeah, yeah it's all true." He wasn't being sarcastic, but he didn't elaborate and Hobbes didn't press the issue.

Olivia came out of the apartment building suddenly, opening the SVU's door and strapping her seatbelt on. They said something to each other and then Erica finally started her engine and pulled away from Olivia's apartment building; Peter kept his eyes fixated on Olivia's bedroom window.

emShe hasnt bought curtains yet./em

"Anyway," Hobbes shifted his feet and pulled Peter away from his thoughts. "I guess there's not gonna be a show here after all." He turned down the alley and didn't stop walking, even as Peter called after him.

"Hey! Don't you still owe me money."

Hobbes laughed but didn't stop walking. "Mate, as I recall, our last adventure ended up with you owing me money."

/

Erica pulled up to Hobbes' basement and led Olivia down the stairs into the basement cell where Hobbes, Ryan, Jack and Sydney all hovered over top of a body, partially dissected.

"What you got?"

The men eyed Olivia carefully but turned their attention to Erica and her question.

"Well," Sydney cleared his throat, getting up from his computer screen. "This was a Fifth Column member."

"We found his body in a field. A V tracker definitely got a hold of him."

"A tracker? How?" Erica asked as Olivia descended the staircase and took position beside her.

"The communication devices that the Vs have given to humanity all have personal trackers in them. Every conversation you have, every contact you have, everywhere you go, all of that information gets sent back to the V mothership. Apparently, this one here," Hobbes gestured to the body that lay on the table. "Had some Fifth Column sympathies that Anna didn't agree with."

"So this is how Anna's been able to discover more Fifth Column Vs," Erica said, almost to herself, but Hobbes nodded and continued.

"They're tracking suspected Fifth Column members - not just Vs, but humans too and there's something else. There have been reports of Vs... disappearing."

"Disappearing?"

"Into thin air - a bright blue light, like from a Blue Energy bomb - and they're gone. Any idea what that could be all about?"

Erica shrugged and looked at Olivia.

"Don't look at me. I've only just walked into the club."

Erica considered Olivia for a moment and then turned her attention back to Ryan. "Okay, anything else?"

"I don't think so."

"Okay," Erica said. "Hobbes, I want you to work with Agent Dunham. I want you to show her every tactic that they use. I want her to be prepared for anything."

"What do you have in mind?" Hobbes asked, eyeing Olivia in a different way, as if he was suddenly happy he had something new to play with.

"We're going to step up a Fifth Column meeting and hopefully attract as many Fifth Column Vs as we can. It's time we got some answers to our questions."

"And a leg up in this war," Ryan nodded his agreement.

"Set it up," Erica motioned to Ryan. "I want us to be ready."

/

Some random warehouse filled with people and aliens disguised as people. No one said anything to each other, everyone was afraid of making eyecontact. Despite this being a "friendly" Fifth Column meeting, no one had any idea who was working for whom. Danger was all around them and the least no one said, the better. Olivia, Erica and Ryan all arrived separately; they circled the concrete basement waiting for something to happen.

Olivia kept her eyes on a man she had never seen before, hidden partially by shadows. Another moved towards him and the two stood face to face when the man reached his arm out and injected the other with something. Olivia narrowed her eyes and tried to make it seem like she wasn't watching them. She turned her head for a moment, until a flash of light caught her eye, and when she looked back, they were both gone. Alert and worried, Olivia realized what was going on: the drugs, the light, one second they were there, the next they weren't - they all disappeared at the blink of an eye.

"Erica!" Olivia hissed and nearly grabbed Erica as she walked passed her.

Erica didn't answer. Instead she side stepped around Olivia, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the brick wall, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. "What?" she asked, directing her question to the floor.

"I... I think they're crossing over," Olivia stuttered, trying to keep her voice down. She was excited and agitated - everything was starting to make sense. Olivia took a deep breath, trying to keep her composure.

"Well, how are you able to do it?" Erica pushed herself off of the wall and made it look like she was leaving Olivia standing alone.

"From the drug cortexiphan I was given as a child, but I don't know how to control it - these Vs seemed to have figured it out though."

"They must have gotten a hold of some somehow," Erica said looking up at her finally.

Olivia nodded, tipping her head to the side, trying to catch Ryan's eye.

"But you can't crossover at will," Erica continued as Ryan made his way over to them.

"No. It has to be the right... conditions for me to do it."

"You two are starting to look a little suspicious," Ryan said quietly as he joined Erica and Olivia against the wall.

"Olivia seems to think that the Vs are crossing over to the alternate universe. I think they got a hold of some cortexiphan -"

"Massive Dynamic," Olivia said softly and the others went quiet, waiting for her to explain. "Nina Sharp has access to all of William Bell's research and all of his equipment at Massive Dynamic, and if she's aligned herself with Anna, they have all the test subjects they could ever need." Olivia shrugged and looked at Erica, who was resting her head on her fingers, thinking. "It could have gotten to the point that they were synthesizing it," Olivia added.

"But what's in it for Anna?" Erica asked and the others looked at her. "Why would she want to get involved with a third party?"

"Erica, think about it," Ryan turned to Erica directly, while Olivia eyed the two figures on the other side of the room. "The Vs believe that their potential is limitless and if there's a drug that actually makes them limitless, they'd be unstoppable. That's what they're here for: Anna knows about the other side, and she wants to invade."

Before Erica could respond, the whole room lit up with blue light and screams filled the air. A seeker bomb... no... maybe... a seeker bomb and a Blue Energy bomb... bright blue light and shrapnel soared through the air hitting everything, knocking everyone off of their feet. A sharp pain hit Olivia over and over again and suddenly she thought her head would explode. The pain was unbearable, but she couldn't tell if she was bleeding or not. She staggered around the floor, trying to get her bearings back; instinctively, she raised her gun, intending to fire at anyone that might threaten her in this state. Terrified, she fired two rounds into the light and missed the figure that was charging at her.

em Hobbes was right... I do have terrible aim.../em

She missed entirely and the figure took that to knock her off of her feet. She hit the hard cement with a thud and her gun went flying out of her hand and a foot was on her both of her hands, keeping her down. His eyes weren't human - they were that of a lizard's, two black diamonds staring back at her and he smiled down at Olivia, as she stared wide-eyed at his smiling face. He cocked his gun, a loud pop and his body fell down over Olivia.

**/**

The last time Erica held Olivia's head in her hands, she had taken a small pocket knife and sliced the delicate skin behind Olivia's ear, revealing blood and skull bone and the truth that Erica had always known but had to prove to the rest of the world. This time, she struggled against a flailing Olivia, who tried to pull away from Erica at every opportunity, proving strong against any force that overcame her, but Erica was stronger and eventually got Olivia to settle, resting her bleeding head in her lap.

**/**

They made her wait, outside, as doctors and nurses poured into the emergency room bay. Paul stood overtop of her, demanding answers, but she just sat in an arm chair, shaking, with Olivia's blood caking on her hands.

Paul finally stopped and he sat down beside her and they waited together, until a doctor finally came out.

"... She's lost a lot of blood..."

Erica rested her fingers against her forehead.

"... Internal bleeding..."

She squeezed her eyes closed.

"... All we can do is make her more comfortable..."

Erica stood, suddenly, ignoring the "Evans!" that demanded her attention. She walked to the nearest deserted corridor to make every phone call imaginable - to Boston, to various members of the Fifth Column; Jack even offered to come and sit with her, offered to come and to take her home, but she refused leave.

"It's alright, Erica. Why don't you go and get some rest. I can come and stay with Olivia. I can call you if anything changes..."

The idea was absurd: she wasn't about to leave her partner here, in this unfamiliar hospital room, so she could die on her own, without anyone she knew... Erica took a deep breath. Olivia didn't know her, she had never given Olivia the chance to get to know her. She had always kept her new partner at arm's length. She couldn't take that chance. Not again, not after Dale... So she sat next to a dying Olivia, who lay in a pristine white sheet, covered in bruises and stitches and tubes. She lay dying and it was her fault, the bomb was meant for Erica, but somehow, Olivia had got caught up in its fire and now Erica sat in a quiet vigil, stroking Olivia's hand, waiting for the inevitable.

Erica watched as the machines breathed for her, wondering what it would be like if Olivia would just opened her eyes again, if she would smile up at her. She would say: "Hey, there," and try to keep the tears out of her cracking voice, as Olivia's eyes would say "It's okay darling, I'm going to be fine... you're going to be fine..."

Their set up was a set up: Anna had been on to them the whole time, sending soldiers into a room full of Fifth Column members and even though they had the answers to the questions that they were looking for, there was few left from the latest blood-soaked battlefield that could do anything constructive with them. Erica shook her head at the loss of life, at the loss of potential, at the loss of her partner...

Footsteps behind her made her jump and she turned around gasping, her hand on her chest, the other moving instinctively to her hip, making her wonder what happened to her gun...

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

Erica shifted her body sideways so that she could cover Olivia if need be. "No, that's alright," she said absently. She wasn't in the mood to accept anyone's company, let alone a stranger's.

The woman took a step towards Olivia's bed but Erica stood, blocking her path, keeping a hand on Olivia's leg. She stopped, this short, red head woman, and put her black-gloved hands up in a defensive position.

"I'm actually a friend of Olivia's."

"I know who you are, Ms. Sharp."

"Yes, I thought you might," Nina paused for a moment, watching Olivia, listening to all of machines in the room. Her tone softened and she watched Erica as her attention returned to Olivia. "I understand that the damage to Olivia is quite severe."

"Yes, she'll die soon..." Erica trailed off absently, sitting back down. She was beyond the point of tears and every time she went to cry, nothing but a dry heave clutched her chest. To combat the nothingness that claimed her, Erica stroked the side of Olivia's bruised face, with the back of her hand. "I called Astrid Farnsworth from Fringe division in Boston but I don't think that she'll get her in time."

"What if I tell you that we have the technology to save her, that Olivia's life is lost in conventional medicine, but that the technology does exist and that Massive Dynamic is willing to offer its services?" Nina offered, circling around Olivia's bed.

"I would probably ask you what you're asking for in return," Erica said lazily, not caring about the red head who stood behind her.

"It's not me who's asking," Nina said taking a step forward, coming up behind Erica. "It's Anna, the V Queen," there was a small pause and her tone changed to something harder, more serious.

Erica didn't say anything; she pressed her lips together and stroked Olivia's hand with her thumb. Of course it was Anna, of course Olivia's life depended on the Vs and all the wonder that they had to offer humanity. Of course.

"And what do I have to do for Anna?"

"Anna wants the leader of New York's Fifth Column faction."

emOf course she does./em "And what does that have to do with me?" Erica asked, feigning ignorance.

"As a member of the FBI's V Task Force, you have more access to information, to databases, than anyone else, maybe even more than Massive Dynamic. You're in a better position to secure the location of the Fifth Column's leader and bring him... or her to Anna," Nina spoke quietly, allowing the weight to sink into Erica fully, hoping that she would understand her meaning.

Olivia laid limp and dying in a hospital bed with tubes and machines hooked up to her, keeping her alive, slowly making her more machine than person. Erica grazed her tired and sad eyes over the body that never heard her apologies, the body that never realized how sorry she really was, the body that lost consciousness before it could hear emNo, Olivia... don't leave me yet.../em. Erica squeezed Olivia's lifeless hand, almost expecting... something, something encouraging that would allow her, just once, to take the easy way out. Of course, nothing happened and Nina Sharp was growing more and more impatient; she opened her mouth to say something when Erica cut her off.

"Yes, fine," she said, never taking her eyes off of Olivia. "Tell Anna that she has her deal. Tell her that She can expect the leader of the Fifth Column to surrender himself in exchange for the technology that will safe Olivia." Erica squeezed Olivia's hand again; she was cold and Erica pulled the blanket up higher over Olivia's body, not minding the look that Nina was giving her.

"Anna is expecting that leader tomorrow on the New York Mothership," Nina kept her gaze fixed squarely on Erica. There was something about her look that made Erica wonder and suddenly she realized: emshe knows... that's all she was looking for all along... and now she knows.../em

"Does Olivia have that long?" Erica smoothed Olivia's hair off the side of her face, tracing her jawbone with the back of her fingers.

"I'm told she that does, yes," Nina wasn't lying: the deal would fall through instantly if she had been.

"There's no deal if Olivia is going to die."

"I'll give you my personal guarantee that Olivia will survive, providing that Massive Dynamic can help her sooner, rather than later."

Erica resisted the urge to close her eyes. Instead, she kept her gaze fixed on Olivia as the machines breathed life for her broken body.

"I better go track down the Fifth Column leader."

Careful of the wires and tubes that penetrated her body, Erica leaned in and gently pressed her lips to Olivia's temple, never letting go of her limp and listless hand. Olivia's skin still tasted like blood and Erica licked the coppery taste from her lips sadly before she turned and, never looking back at Nina Sharp, she left the hospital room for Anna's Mothership.

/

The V Mothership was swarming with rumors - a woman proclaiming to be leader of the Fifth Column had just surrendered herself and now stood before Anna in the Great Hall.

"Erica Evans," Anna's lips grew into a huge, wide smile; she looked like a child on Christmas morning. "You're claiming to be the leader of the Fifth Column."

Erica gave one simple nod of her head. "I am."

"I see," Anna didn't move nor did her smile falter. "You understand the risks of such a claim, especially if this claim turns out to be false?"

"Is this the V equivalent to reading me my rights?" If it hadn't been for the seriousness of the situation, Erica would have laughed.

Anna tipped her chin to the side. "I just want you to be fully aware of your actions."

"I am. I am the leader of the Fifth Column and I am surrendering myself to you."

"I see," Anna began to pace from side to side in front of Erica.

"Am I not good enough for you, Anna?"

Anna stopped pacing and turned to face Erica directly. "On the contrary, you're an acceptable catch and I'm looking forward to showing you all of the finest hospitalities that the Vs have to offer. I was, however, hoping for another, but no matter. We can certainly use you to our advantage," she took a few steps towards Erica. "Given the fact that you've come to us willingly, I must assume that you've made a deal with Nina Sharp to save your partner's life."

Erica didn't answer, but she couldn't help the look that over came her face. Anna picked up on it instantly and used it to her advantage.

"I'm quite please to inform you that Olivia Dunham has survived her surgery, thanks to the healing technology that the Vs provided Massive Dynamic and that she is alive."

A wave of panic and relief washed over Erica - although she was happy and grateful that Olivia had survived, Anna knew who she was, knew that the two were working together, and must have concluded that Olivia was apart of Fifth Column too. "She'll come for me," Erica said, much too quickly. She had secretly hoped that Olivia would survive and realize what Erica had done for her, but with the difficulties that the two had faced, she was uncertain as to wether or not Olivia would even want to rescue her. At the moment, Anna held all the power, and even though she was alone and facing an uncertain and highly precarious situation, Erica was determined to survive, to hold out long enough, hoping that maybe her efforts weren't in vein. She gave Anna a deadly look that refused to falter or waver, and was unmoved by Anna's near laughter. "What ever you do to me, what ever you have planned for me, Olivia will come."

"You sound so hopeful," Anna said and there was trace amounts of excitement in her voice, that quickly hardened. "But you'll find that this is a place where our prisoners lack the hope they need for survival."

"As long as there's a chance that Olivia will come, there's always going to be hope, Anna."

Anna walked up to Erica until the two were standing almost nose to nose. "That's exactly what I'm hoping she'll do," she whispered harshly.

"Why? What do you want with her?" Suddenly panicked, Erica asked before she had the chance to think or to stop herself.

Anna laughed, delighted in the quick changes that she saw come over Erica. "She's a very important part of my plan," her eyes glinted at Erica. "And I can see that she will be very useful in the coming hours. In the meantime, I want all the information you have on the Fifth Column," Anna said, her tone was threatening and deadly but Erica didn't even blink.

"You really think that I'm going to give you any information about anything at all?"

Anna smiled. "No, I don't. But I expect that eventually, you will break and give me everything that I want."

Erica raised her head at Anna, jutting her chin out, standing hard and steadfast against the queen. Anna recognized the look and Erica saw a flash of rage come over Anna.

"It's people like you," Anna said, eyeing Erica from top to bottom, "who I'm fighting against. My people's destiny is to inherit Earth. The Fifth Column are trying to deny us our birthright and I will destroy you all, one by one if I have to, until I am ruling this world and any others it might be connected to."

"And what about all of the people you've killed, all of your people who will die for this... vision that you have?" Erica starred at Anna, unwilling to believe that any leader, any mother, could possibly be so cold and callous.

"Their sacrifice will add to the glory of the V's new reign."

"Narcissistic and arrogant," Erica said, shaking her head; she almost laughed at Anna's statement. "Two qualities that have always signaled the downfall of the worst tyrants," Erica stepped forward and her gaze bore through Anna's eyes, directly through her human skin. "And you will be one of them."

Anna's expression didn't change, she didn't blink or give any other reaction. The only change in movement was the tip of her tongue poking out from between her pressed lips, tasting Erica's scent on the air.

"I'm going to enjoy breaking you, Erica Evans. Take her!" Anna commanded as two guards grabbed Erica from behind and led her away.

/

Astrid nearly burst into tears when she saw Olivia. She was covered in bruises, from head to toe, while cuts and scrapes marred her once pale complexion. She took a deep breath before she entered the hospital room, holding her arm out so Olivia could grip it and pull herself up off of the bed. Astrid helped her dress, careful of the busies and cuts that scattered on her back and arms; she leaned against Astrid's shoulders as she stepped into her pants.

"When did you get here?" Olivia asked.

"A few hours ago. They wouldn't let us in until I could prove who Walter was. It made him a little agitated," Astrid said, grimacing at the memory.

"Is he alright?"

"Yeah," Astrid pulled Olivia's hair into a ponytail, securing it at the base of her skull. "I sent him down to the cafeteria."

Walter's hands brushed up against her cheek and his eyes watered as his fingers filled the air that surrounded her. He half smiled with joy and sadness as he curled his fingers back and put them on the top of his thighs.

"It's nice to see you again, Agent Dunham."

Olivia smiled a half smile and looked up at him with a familiar happiness that she had misplaced somewhere. It was nice to be in the presence of familiar company, of someone who was so happy that she was there too.

"It's good to see you again too, Walter."

They held each other's smiles for a few seconds before Astrid came into the hospital room, followed by Jack Landry.

"Father," Olivia greeted as Walter stepped back, lowering his head respectfully.

"Olivia, how are you feeling?" he asked her, genuinely concerned for her well-being.

"Better... It'll be nice when I can get out of here."

"Of course... Erica called your friends... we didn't think you had much time left. But, thanks be to God, you're alright."

"Do you know where she is?"

"No, I thought she was still here, with you at the hospital."

Olivia shook her head. "I haven't seen her at all."

"I'll call her cell again... I'll be right back."

Olivia looked nodded and turned to Astrid and Walter.

"Thank you for coming. It's nice to see you both again."

Walter smiled and looked delighted with the prospect of having Olivia back into his life but Astrid stood quiet. She gave a weak half-smile and focused on Olivia's chin, rather than her eyes. Olivia noticed immediately and tried to pick up Astrid's gaze with her own, but she resisted and looked at her shoes and then at Walter.

"We should go," she said softly.

Walter's face fell and he looked at Astrid with a gaping mouth. "But... but we just got here and we're just starting to get reacquainted..."

"I know Walter, but Olivia has a new job now and she probably wants to get back to it. Beside we can't leave Gene for too long..."

"Oh, that's alright dear," Walter said, chiding Astrid gently with a touch of his hand on hers. "I asked Agent Broyles to check in on her! She should be just fine, so long as he can remember proper milking technique..." Walter trailed off, allowing Olivia to jump into the conversation.

"What about Peter?" Olivia's sudden question made the other two go quiet and she immediately regretted the question.

"Uh, we haven't seen Peter since you left..."

"It was my fault!" Walter cried.

"It wasn't, Walter," Astrid turned to him, narrowing her eyes. "Peter was just angry, that's why he left."

Walter continued on as if Astrid hadn't said anything at all. "There was nothing I could say that would have kept him here. It was my fault that he left."

Olivia stood quiet, watching the scene unfold before her. She was concerned for her friend but she couldn't help in

Astrid opened her mouth to protest when Jack came back into the hospital room. His lips were tight and he looked worried.

"What's wrong?" Olivia asked.

"It's Erica. I just got a text message from her."

"What does it say?"

"That everything is fine," Jack looked grim, handing Olivia the cell phone.

"I don't understand," she said after reading it and passing it to Astrid's open hand.

Jack shook his head. "It's code for 'I'm in trouble' but it doesn't say what, explicitly. I have Ryan trying to find out what's going on."

"You think it has something to do with the Vs."

"It must - that particular code was only to be used in emergencies and I can't think of one right now that wouldn't involve the Vs somehow. C'mon, we need to get back to the basement."

Olivia nodded and followed Jack out of the hospital room but she stopped him with a hand on his elbow. She opened her mouth, but didn't have to say anything.

"Bring them with you. I'll take care of Hobbes... we won't make them go through what you did."

Olivia nodded. "Thank you, Jack." She turned back to Astrid and Walter and ushered them along by cocking her head. "C'mon. I'll show you my new job."

"Delightful!" Walter said, trotting behind Olivia and Jack happily. "Come along, Astro! There's a new adventure afoot!"

Astrid rolled her eyes and followed them out of the hospital, leaving behind an empty and unoccupied bed.

**/**

The car ride was silent, except for Walter pointing out every New York landmark that they passed. Jack regarded him quietly, smiling occasionally, but mostly focusing on getting them all to the basement hideaway.

"Astrid," Olivia said softly when Walter discovered the van's radio and dial tuner. "Peter's gone?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, looking out the window a the passing New York scene. "We haven't heard from him since you left."

"What happened."

"Walter told me that they had a fight and when he woke up the next morning, Peter and most of his stuff, was gone."

"And Walter blames - ?"

"Walter blames himself," Astrid turned and looked at Olivia directly in the eyes. "He thinks that it was something that he said or did or didn't do that made him leave."

Olivia took a deep breath and looked away from Astrid.

"Look," she said, touching Olivia's hand gently. "I don't blame you for Peter leaving and I respect your decision to leave Boston, but Olivia, you didn't even say good-bye. It broke everyone's heart, even mine." Astrid looked so sad, and for the first time, Olivia felt guilty about her decision, that she had taken the easy way out, that it would have been better if she had stayed.

"At some point," Astrid continued. "You're going to have to talk to Peter."

"I can't, Astrid."

"Olivia," Astrid said with a soft force that picked up Olivia's attention and made her emstop/em. "You've been through a lot, no one is denying that. But I think that at some point, you need to be okay with your trauma." Astrid paused for a moment and took a step forward. She picked up Olivia's fallen hand and squeezed it tightly, rubbing her thumb over the delicate bones and pale skin. "You need to be okay with yourself."

Olivia opened her mouth to say something when the van stopped and Jack turned to them.

"We're here. Let's go." He looked at Walter, who turned off the radio and followed him out of the van to the basement.

/

"We need to mount a rescue plan," Jack said, pacing around the basement. He was looking at everything and everyone, agitated and restless.

"Maybe we should start with these people and who exactly they are!" Hobbes interjected, stopping Jack's pacing for the moment. He gestured towards Walter and Astrid, never taking his eyes off of them, and even though he didn't seem to notice, Astrid had to fight the urge to stand closer to Olivia for the added protection that she offered.

"They're my friends from Boston," Olivia said as Astrid helped her into a chair.

"Agent Dunham! Do you keep any food in this lovely basement of yours?"

Olivia smiled weakly. "There's a small fridge at the back, Walter."

"Hey, that's not your fridge to offer there, blondie."

Walter ignored Hobbes completely and trotted over to the fridge while Olivia's eyes flashed up at Hobbes. "Walter," she called to him without changing her gaze from Hobbes. "Take anything you like."

Hobbes stepped forward, glaring at Olivia; the others stepped back, but Olivia held her ground. Instinctively, her right hand brushed up against her hip, in search of her gun, while keeping Astrid back at the same time. Hobbes saw the movement, but didn't back down from his stance. "How do you expect us to trust them so quickly?" he demanded, narrowing his eyes.

Olivia held his gaze with a look of hardened fire. "Because I said you can and if you need more proof than that, you can walk out that door and fight this battle on your own."

There was some clinking of glass, opening of packages and a thump as Walter hit his head on the upper shelf as he reluctantly pulled himself from the fridge, arms filled with food.

"What did you say, Agent Dunham?"

Olivia smiled and Astrid grinned, crossing her arms over her chest beside Olivia as Hobbes took that moment to back down, returning to his original spot by the wall, arms crossed over his chest in quiet protest.

"Nothing, Walter. It's fine," Olivia said lightly.

"Can we get back to the rescue plan, please?" Jack said, growing more and more exasperated by the internal political works of their group.

"Do you have an idea, priest?" Hobbes demanded, forgetting about Walter and turning his attention to Jack. "Exactly what that plan would look like? We're talking about an army that of four - me, Ryan, a cripple and a guy who won't kill anyone -"

"I was thinking about a virus."

Everyone turned their heads to Sydney who spoke, not to the group, but to his computer screen, staring at a DNA sequence model.

"A what?" Olivia's interest was piqued: Jack dropped his arms to his chest, Astrid turned, cocking her head to the side and even Walter stopped chewing long enough to listen.

"A virus - one that would infect the Vs. One that could be spread from person to person with - preferably by physical contact."

"Vs don't do a whole lot of physical contact thought," Ryan said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Something airborne then... something that we can put in their ventilation system. Vs do have a ventilation system, don't they?" Sydney glanced over his shoulder to Ryan, raising an eyebrow and Ryan nodded emyes/em. "Good," he nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. "I've been studying the Vs DNA and I think that there's something going on."

Sydney waited for someone to say something and when no one did, Olivia raised her hand for him to continue.

"We don't have to develop an anti-virus - all we have to do is wait for the drug to break down the V's DNA on its own."

"But Walter, we don't have enough time, plus we don't know how many Vs have been administered cortexiphan - we don't know how many have been crossing over."

"No, that's true..."

"But maybe we could speed up the process," Sydney interjected. "Maybe we can give them something that would hasten denature."

"Den...?" Hobbes looked at Sydney as if he were speaking a foreign language. "We don't all speak Science, their Science Boy."

"First of all, it's emScience Man/em and second, denature means DNA breakdown."

"Oh, well, we don't all watch the discovery after work."

"Well, maybe you should so I don't have to explain every second word to you?"

"Alright you, two. Enough," Olivia gave Hobbes and Sydney a look.

"Wait," Jack said suddenly. "What about the Vs who are Fifth Column? Wouldn't that kill them too?"

Walter and Sydney exchanged a glance. "Yes. Probably," Walter said at last.

"We can't let that happen - we can't let innocent life die. We have to find a way to protect them. Isn't there something you can do?"

"Priest! We don't have time for this!" Hobbes bashed his fist on a table and Olivia's hand brushed over her gun. "This is our opening and we have to take it!"

"Hobbes is right, Father," Astrid said softly.

Jack opened his mouth to protest but Astrid shook her head and he stepped back, defeated. He nodded, closing his eyes tightly, as if he were already praying for forgiveness.

"I'll start working on it," Sydney spun around in his chair and started pulling out various petrie dishes. "I'm going to need your expertise on cortexiphan, Walter," he said over his shoulder.

"I'd be delighted!" Walter said wide eyed. "He's not Belly," he whispered loudly to Astrid. "But I suppose that he'll do for now."

"I was thinking about Olivia's reaction to the Blue Energy bomb and why it would cause her to react to it the way she did."

Olivia looked up at Sydney sharply, folding her arms over her chest. "Who told you about that?"

Sydney looked confused. "Uh..." he stuttered, looking at Jack.

"I did," Jack said and Olivia pressed her lips together, but didn't say anything. She nodded at Sydney and he continued.

"The way that Jack described your reaction to it and how no one else but the Vs who have been given cortexiphan makes me think that Blue Energy reacts with cortexiphan somehow -"

"Perception!" Walter shirked from across the room and turned around suddenly, beaming at everyone, despite the confusion and quiet that he was met with.

"Walter?" Astrid prompted gently.

"Agent Dunham is witnessing the tearing of the universe," Walter said as if that explained everything.

"Tearing of the universe?" Olivia asked raising her eyebrow, mirroring the looks on the other's faces.

"I surmise that Blue Energy weakens the structural bounds of this universe, which explains why the Vs are able to crossover so easily and why you reacted to it the way you did, Agent Dunham."

"Reacted how?"

"By throwing everyone across the room, of course," Walter was beginning to sound slightly exasperated. "Obviously something scared you enough that your abilities kicked in and you tried to protect yourself. The cortexiphan allows you to do that!" Walter exclaimed proudly.

Astrid shrugged. "Well, that would explain the fire."

"Exactly!"

"Okay, fine," Olivia said, beginning to sound exasperated herself. "So then, how can Blue Energy tear apart the universe?"

"Because it's alien technology and our universe isn't accustom to it," Walter said simply.

"How was Olivia able to see this happen, Walter?" Sydney asked.

"Because she was administered the drug over time as a child. William Bell and I administered the drug to children because cortexiphan prevents limitation."

Olivia shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest, not wishing to relive any of the fragmented memories that she had from her childhood.

"Limitation is the natural shrinking of the brain that occurs as one ages. Cortexiphan prevented that limitation from happening so that you could open up the brain's infinite capabilities."

"That's got to be what they're doing then - dousing the Vs with cortexiphan -"

"No, it's got to be simpler than that," Sydney said, standing up from his computer. "The V's genetic structure can't handle cortexiphan."

"How do you know that?" Hobbes asked.

"I got to look at the body of the V that was about to kill Olivia before she got hit by the bomb didn't die from Erica's gunshot wound - he died because his DNA was breaking down."

"So Erica's shot was just a coincidence."

"I think so," Sydney said nodding. "I think that this V," he motioned to the body on the table behind him. "Would have died no matter what. I did DNA analysis: he had been injected with cortexiphan over a period of time and his body was rejecting it by rejecting its own structure. His body was starting to kill itself."

"Alright, so we have a plan of action. How do you propose we get on board the V's mothership?"

Olivia didn't answer Hobbes' question right away. Instead, she looked at Ryan, hoping that he had an idea when Astrid cleared her throat.

"Actually, I have a suggestion," she paused as everyone turned to her. "I was doing some background checks on some of the people who were approved for the V's live aboard program and I found a..." Astrid cleared her throat, glancing nervously at Olivia. "... I found a couple who were approved but were killed in a car accident a week before they were scheduled to leave."

"Okay," Olivia said nodding. "So we need to make some fake IDs. Who do we need, Astrid?"

"That's just it," Astrid took a step forward and addressed Olivia directly, as if there was no one else in the basement with them. "The couple were lesbians. Apparently the Vs don't discriminate against sex orientation."

"Oh. Okay," Olivia said slowly, nodding her head and sticking her lips out. "So..."

"So we're going to have to be that couple, Olivia. Do you see any other women in the room?" Astrid said despite the look on Olivia's face.

"Astrid, wait. I don't know if sending you and Walter up there is a good idea. You don't know what you're getting yourself into."

"Who said anything about Walter going anywhere? I think he would be more useful to you in the lab," Astrid paused for a moment, giving Olivia the opportunity to offer her counter argument, but when she didn't say anything, Astrid continued. "And from what it sounds like, you're going to need all the help you can get. For once in your life Olivia, let someone help you."

Olivia looked at Astrid carefully: she was pleading with Olivia and finally, she understood and relented by nodding her head, realizing that Astrid was right, after all.

"Splendid!" Walter cried out from across the room. "Our young scientist here has just made an important break through. I'll get the glass phials. You'll need to use a phial of the purest glass, blown and sealed at the top so it can't escape or leach out. Then, just pull the stopper and release it into the atmosphere," Walter rushed over to a cabinet pulling out phials by the handful. "It's not harmful to humans... Young Science Man? It's not harmful to humans, is it?" Walter asked and scurried back to Sydney's side.

Ignoring Walter and Sydney's discovery, Olivia turned her attention back to Astrid. "Fine, Astrid. Hobbes? You'll make the ID badges. Ryan, I'll need a schematic of the mothership. I need to know what to expect when Astrid and I are in there."

"What do you want me to do, Agent Dunham?"

"I'd like you to act as our back up, Father. Astrid and I will need to go up there alone, to minimize suspicion."

Jack nodded. "I've been in contact with Anna's daughter, Lisa. I'll see if we can get any on board Fifth Column on our side."

"I don't want to jeopardize this with too many people knowing about our plan."

"I'll make sure she knows to be discrete. And I'll also warn her about the virus so she can prepare her people."

"Alright. Everyone know what to do? Let's get started."

"You okay?" Astrid came up behind Olivia as the circle disbanded and they all went about their various tasks.

Olivia took a deep breath. "Yeah, Astrid, I'm fine. Why?"

"You look like you're a little... put upon."

"Well, we're going to storm an alien ship that's intent on destroying us and who can crossover and who are holding my... partner," the word partner left a bitter taste in Olivia's mouth and Astrid could see it resonating all over her face.

"Olivia, she gave her life up for you."

"You don't know that."

"How do you think she got up there, Olivia?" Astrid took a step towards the other woman and gently touched her hand with her own. "She didn't just turn herself over, she didn't just break and decide that giving up and giving in was easier. There was a reason behind it, I'm sure."

"You didn't even know her."

"From the sounds of it, neither did you."

/

Erica was strapped to a metal chair in an awkward position that had her bent over he knees - it was breaking her back and the only place that she could rest her head was her chin against knees. It was excruciating and she couldn't breath. She couldn't see, but for a few feet in front of her. She could only see shoes. There was someone at her side, someone big; he may have had a gun or some other instrument that would make her conform to Anna's wishes.

Anna paced in front of her - her high heels a bright colour, like red or blue that was a direct contrast to the of the colour dress that she wore. Today they were red and Erica imagined that her dress was blue... like night... like the colour of Tyler's eyes...

"I will break you, Erica Evans," Anna's voice swirled around her from somewhere out of sight and brought her back to the reality of her situation. "I will break you and you will give me the names of your co-conspirators."

Erica shook uncontrollably in the chair; the pressure was constant and the pain made her see stars. Every breath she took was laboured and she could taste blood in the back of her throat. Another hit sent her reeling and she started wondering if maybe Anna was right, that they could break her and that it was just a matter of time before the other Fifth Column members would join her in death. The only solace she could find was in the black that consumed her.

/

Anna wasn't surprised by Erica, not in her feeble attempts at survival or how quickly she passed out. She was human after all, typically, predictably human. Anna had dealt with humans in this capacity before, some were weaker than others, but all of them eventually fell before her.

The sight of Erica bent over, broken, begging for the sweet release that death would bring filled her with a strange sense... the humans would call it emjoy/em. But Anna, the queen of the universe's apex race, never gave in to that emotion, instead she bottled the feeling, repressing her human skin's desires and settled for a quiet contentment to wash over her.

When the moment had passed, she took a few steps towards her bound prisoner and ran a single, slender finger down Erica's cheek, clearing away a line of blood, sweat and tears. Although she hated it, her human skin allowed for extraordinary insight into her enemy and she knew exactly how to defeat her.

Anna's skin allowed her to become her enemy, allowed her to feel their emotions, and use them against the humans. No one in Earth's history ever had that kind of insight into their opponent; she was the first and she would use that to destroy them from the inside out. They would all fall, eventually, simple because she understood who they were and what they were made of. Her rudimentary torture methods were based on causing the most pain one could bare before they died. Anna almost felt lucky that many of Earth's histories kept detailed records; she could pick method she liked and she liked the basic torture chair the best.

She bent over Erica's broken body and parted her perfectly painted lips. "I will destroy you," she whispered into Erica's ear. "With every weapon, every method that you're people invented, I will break you down until there's nothing but dust and bone," Anna smiled, cold, calculating and callous. She waved a hand at one of her guards, who injected Erica that woke her up for another round.

/

They beat her over and over again, but maybe she didn't have it as bad as some other prisoners - the one's who were tortured by having to watch the death of their loved ones over and over again; Anna didn't have access to the memories of her loved ones. She might have been controlling her son, but Anna couldn't control the memories Erica had of her family, of a life that was once happy and filled with joy.

Every time they hit her, every time her skin cracked and her blood trickled down her face, she remembered her son - the sound of his laugh, his eyes and how they were filled with joy, not so long ago. The onslaught combined with Anna's words were strong enough to break her, but no one could take the memories of her son away from her. Erica gripped her restraints and suddenly realized that it was joy, her son's joy, that would save her.

It was the thing that gave her the strength to go on. It was like a light switch that flipped on in her brain: as long as she held on to his joy, no one, nothing, would ever break her. She hardened her self against all opposing forces, letting it reflect on her face. She pursed her lips into a straight line and focused her eyes on a single spot on the floor.

Despite the restraints and the injuries that screamed out in protest, Erica raised her head and squared her gaze upon Anna, who stood almost frightened at such resolve, and with the power of nothing more than strength and determination thought pain, Erica spat the blood in her mouth out at Anna, watching as it fell on her bright red heels.

"I will emnever/em give in to you."

Anna's eyes flashed and her face twitched; someone moved at Erica's right and a surging pain blackened out her world once again.

/

Clutching the phials in her hands, Astrid inserted each of them into a small hole in the hem of her jacket. She clutched at the IDs, putting them down directly in front of her, as if she would misplace them easily. Carefully, Astrid stuffed her hair into a cap and looked over at Olivia.

"Okay, we're in."

"We're not going to be able to communicate once you get past secondary security so look out for Fifth Column Vs and Vs who say they're Fifth Column."

"Got it," Olivia nodded at Astrid, who unconsciously brushed a hand over her jacket hem. "Alright, we're heading in."

"Okay. Good luck you two."

Olivia nodded again, but didn't say anything. There was nothing but dead air as she took the ear piece out from behind her hair and dropped it into a nearby garbage can. She took her ID from Astrid, ready to present to the security guard at the launch pad.

"Alright," she said to no one in particular. "Let's end this."

**End of Part Two **

**Part Three **

The easy part was getting on board and if it wasn't for the fact that they were off to rescue her partner, Olivia might have been excited at the prospect of hovering in the earth's atmosphere. The hard part was keeping her mind clear and focused at at the task at hand. First she and Astrid would have to get in, drop the virus, and then she could rescue Erica.

"You okay?" Astrid asked suddenly, pulling Olivia out of the clouds and back onboard the transport they were riding.

"Yeah," Olivia said.

Astrid smiled and leaned her head against the headrest, looking around at all the people and Vs that surrounded them. "We'll get there, Olivia," she cocked her head to the side and made it look like she was scratching her chin. "Just be patient."

Olivia scoffed softly and looked out the window as they left Earth. Astrid squeezed her hand and Olivia looked down suddenly and back at Astrid quizzically.

Astrid shrugged. "We have to start playing the part some time." She closed her eyes and tried not to smile in her sleep. Olivia didn't say anything: she only squeezed back and hoped.

/

The welcome ceremony was beautiful, good and delicious food, and a speech from one of Anna's representatives, who said that Anna was "regrettably unavailable for the event" which only made Olivia tense and Astrid grabbed on to her, pulling her into the party and into the conversations she was having with everyone else. To her credit, Astrid played the part of a devoted lover rather well. She stand on her tip toes and peck Olivia's cheek while making excited conversation with the other new live aboards, which allowed Olivia the chance to smile and observe everyone she was talking to, everyone in the room, and the direction that she needed to go in.

"Oh, my partner is always this quiet, especially in front of new people," Astrid said, explaining Olivia's quiet demeanor to the others, who seemed to accept the explanation easily Olivia smiled shyly and squeezed Astrid's hand twice. Olivia left Astrid to answer the other's questions; she headed down a particular hallway, walking slowly, trying to make it seem like she hadn't planned that direction all along.

She wondered down an empty hallway, slowly, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. There was nothing but walls and if she hadn't been given a detailed map of the mothership, she wouldn't have bothered with the only door hidden in plain sight. It was black with some red lettering overtop and a key pad where a door knob would have been. Olivia stretched her hand out, reaching out to touch the pad when a sharp voice made her jump and she pulled her hand back instinctively.

"You're not supposed to be here."

Olivia turned to find a V guard eyeing her, trying to stare her down. Olivia gave a sweet smile and gave a little flip of her head, tossing her hair. "Sorry," she said as lightly as possible, as if her mistake was no big deal. "I got separated from the group somehow..." Olivia trailed off and turned from the door and started to head back towards the Welcome Party without another word from the guard. She found Astrid right where she left her, talking to the same people she was talking to before.

"Ah! Here she is!" Astrid said when she saw Olivia standing beside her again. "Hey, baby. How are you doing?" she kissed Olivia on the cheek happily and Olivia replied with a light kiss and a grin.

"Can I steal her from you for a moment?" Olivia asked the couple. She led Astrid away by wrapping her arm around Astrid's waist, not bothering to wait for an answer.

"You found something?" Astrid asked softly as Olivia led her to a side of the room that had fewer people and a pillar that offered them some protection. Astrid put her hands on the small of Olivia's back, pulling Olivia closer and making it seem like she wanted some alone time with her partner.

"Yea," she said, leaning in and whispering into Astrid's ear. "The door is at the end of the hallway, just like Ryan said it would be."

"Hm," Astrid said. She rubbed Olivia's back affectionately. "We're going to have to come back later tonight."

Olivia leaned into Astrid, but not too close. She kept her arms on Astrid's shoulders and focused her eyes on the corners of Astrid's mouth.

"What did you find out?" Astrid asked softly.

"I have a plan. C'mon, I'll explain it to you."

/

"Can Vs see in the dark?" Astrid whispered as she and Olivia made their way from their assigned quarters to the hallway that Olivia had explored earlier in the day.

"According to Ryan, only V soldiers can see in the dark."

"Let's hope we don't run in to any."

Olivia nodded and her hand instinctively went to her hip, looking for her firearm, finding nothing but her clothes. She clenched her fists and took a deep breath, trying to stay calm.

They made their way along with lengthy V mothership, using their hands to feel around the walls, as the low lighting made it difficult for them to see.

"You remember the pass codes?" Astrid asked Olivia when they were standing in front of the door.

Olivia looked at Astrid with an incredulous look. She didn't say anything to Astrid and she didn't have to.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry."

Olivia stepped along side of Astrid and punched in the numbers on the pad key. There was a pause where nothing happened and Astrid looked at Olivia wide-eyed, almost panicked, but then the key pad clicked and the door opened with a hiss.

"Phew," Astrid said, sighing with relief just before she was picked up and hurled to the other side of the wall, hitting it with a loud thump and crumpling to the floor.

"I told you that you're not supposed to be here." It was the same V guard from before and he charged at Olivia, pinning her against the wall with his hands on her shoulders. She struggled but he was too strong; she tried to kick at him but he held her legs still by pressing his knees against hers. The V opened his mouth and his reptilian teeth began to grow, extending outwards and as he opened his mouth to bite her, he collapsed at Olivia's feet with a sharp metallic object protruding from his back.

Astrid was standing over the body with a determined look on her face, and as she circled the body, she looked up at Olivia and nodded. "He must have been sick from the cortexiphan. I didn't think that he'd go down so easily." Astrid shrugged one shoulder and turned back to Olivia's astounded look.

"Astrid...?"

"What can I say?" Astrid said, as if she was expecting Olivia to ask her exactly how this happened, how a young junior agent who spent most of her time in a laboratory with the elder Bishop could have taken down a striking V guard. "No one suspects you to have any power at all when you're tiny."

"Where did you get that weapon from?" Olivia asked when she could finally comprehend the situation again.

"We couldn't bring our weapons aboard, but I wanted to make sure that we were protected. I... found this in the quarters we were assigned."

"Found it?"

Astrid grinned but didn't elaborate. Instead, she pointed down at the body and then put her hands on her hips. "What do we do with him?"

"I don't know... we're going to have to hide him. They'll send someone to come find him eventually."

"Help me," Astrid grabbed one of the V's arms and with Olivia's help, they pulled him into the room. It wasn't very big but it had enough space for his body to fit and for Astrid to stand on so she could reach the ventilation shaft. She pulled the phials from inside the hem of her jacket by tearing it open with her thumb nail and started twisting them over her fingers; the liquid sloshed in its casing.

"Alright! I'm ready. I'll see you later," she said as she pulled herself up into the vent.

"Astrid, wait. I want to go with you," Olivia said, grabbing one of Astrid's legs and pulling her back down. When she stood on the V's body, she was almost as tall as Olivia.

Astrid cocked her head to the side and looked at Olivia the way a teenager would look at her disapproving mother. "Olivia, I've got this," she gestured to the body laying at their feet, hoping that would be proof enough. "You go get the bad guys." She grinned from ear to ear and slid them back into their hiding places. "Go get Erica." Astrid jumped up, grabbed the edges of the vent, and pulled herself into the duct.

"Okay, I'll see you soon," Olivia said. She turned to leave but hesitated for a moment. "Astrid?" She called into the vent.

"Yeah?" came a faint, echoing reply.

"Be careful."

Olivia could almost hear her grin. "You too," and she was gone.

/

The ducts were cool and empty, not in any apparent need of services. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but Astrid was unaccustomed to working with some noise in the background. She was nervous, but she kept her focus. Quietly, she crawled hand over hand through the ducts on her way to the first of the ventilation systems. The mothership's layout map she had been provided with were accurate, and even though she couldn't read the V's language, she recognized the vents from the map she had memorized.

Despite Walter's promises of the virus not having any affect on humans, Astrid covered her face with a surgical mask, not wanting to take any chances. Kneeling before the first vent and with one phial in one hand, Astrid pulled out a compact metal fan; her cap almost blew off when she switched it on. Astrid set the fan down over the ventilation system and the liquid sloshed in the phial as she pulled the stopper out and dumped its contents over the fan. The fan cut the liquid and dispersed tiny droplets in the air, vaporizing it. The the air current from the fan pushed the virus away from Astrid and into the vents and as the liquid began to saturate the air.

"Phew," she breathed as she packed up her fan and started moving towards the next set of vents. "One down, nine more to go."

/

The virus was invisible to the Vs and the humans. It left no detectable trail as it floated through the mothership, odorless and colourless, making its way to V and human lungs. It was almost an instantaneous reaction and coupled with the cortexiphan that most of them had been administered, the virus proved to be a crippling weapon: random muscle spasms followed by seizures, Vs everywhere started dropping to the floor, screaming in pain, seizing until they died. Doctors scrambled to the victims, overcome with calls for help, trying to figure out what was causing this and what to do before they started to succumb to the virus' affects, laying themselves down with the masses, and just let go. It infected more and more Vs - so much so that the humans started to notice and started to react.

They tried to help, but without knowing what was going on, the humans were afraid that it might start happening to them. When threatened with that chaos, they panicked, started running for the nearest transport ships, and left the ship in droves.

"Something's happening," they said to each other. "I don't know what, but we've got to get out of here."

"Shouldn't we tell Anna? Shouldn't we tell someone?"

"There may not be anyone left to tell if we don't get out of here."

And amid the screams and cries for help, the humans left the ship and headed back to Earth.

/

Armed with all of the newest research information that she had from Massive Dynamic, Nina boarded the first available transport to the New York mothership, passing a curious amount of ships that were leaving the mothership. She had information that would displease Anna, enrage her most likely, but Nina felt that she had an ethical obligation to report her findings to her business partner. Nina had always been given the best treatment on the mothership and she had no problems in arranging an impromptu meeting with the alien queen.

Anna approached Nina with a hand outstretched and a sickly sweet smile glued to her face.

"Ms. Sharp. How lovely to see you again."

"Anna," Nina said, taking her hand and greeting her with a slight bow of her head. "I'm afraid that I haven't come with good news."

"Oh?" Anna pulled her hands together, pressing the tips of her fingers together, making several small triangle shapes. "What would that be?"

"Unfortunately, our research at Massive Dynamic has concluded that the cortexiphan is breaking down the V's DNA structure. The drug is reacting negatively with the V's - they will be experiencing spasms, seizures and multi-system organ failure, and as their neurons continue to break down, they will die. You are facing a genocide if we don't stop administrating the drug to your people."

Anna listened to Nina for a moment until Marcus leaned into her and whispered: "My Queen, she may be acting only for her own interests."

"You might have noticed this happening already," Nina continued, watching Anna and Marcus ignore her. She focused on the back of Anna's head, speaking directly to it. " some of the Vs may be experiencing these symptoms and I'm sure that some have already died."

Anna cocked her head to the side to indicate that she was listening and that Marcus should continue.

"She can't see our potential. She's trying to stop us from becoming the apex race on this planet. She's circumventing her research for her own goals. She might even be a member of the Fifth Column - she might be trying to rescue Erica Evans," Marcus let go of Anna's elbow and took a step backwards.

She dropped her arms to her sides and turned swiftly, making her way over to Nina.

"Traitor!" Anna screamed, clenching her fists and arching her back.

Nina was shocked by Anna's reaction and even though every inch of her recoiled in fear, she knew she had to stay calm.

"Anna," she started but was cut off by a heavy slap to the face.

"You have betrayed me. You have betrayed my people. You will be punished for your crimes."

The guards surrounding them went to grab Nina but Anna raised her hand quickly, silently ordering them to stop. They backed away and Anna stood nose to nose to Nina. "You're coming with me."

/

One minute she was standing in the great hall of the New York mothership and the next minute she was in a dank, dark, foul smelling room. It looked like a swamp and the intense humidity made her think that maybe this place resembled the V homeworld.

"What can I do for you today, daughter?"

Nina turned to the unfamiliar voice and took a step backwards, but kept her head held high. A woman of smaller stature approached her and from the shadows, Nina realized that she was human - or had least, taken human form.

"Oh," the woman said. "Who are you?"

"I could ask you the same question," Nina said.

The woman said nothing. Instead, she circled Nina, keeping her fingertips pressed together tightly. She opened her mouth and a strange sound, like hissing, came out. When Nina didn't respond, the woman cocked her head to one side.

"You're human."

"Yes," Nina said slowly, unsure of what to do. "You're not?"

The woman smiled. "No, I'm not. Tell me," she said in a commanding tone. "Who are you?"

"My name is Nina Sharp."

"Oh, the business woman."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that we've been introduced."

The woman smiled again. "No, we haven't been. But I've heard a great deal about you from my daughter."

"You're daughter?"

"Yes. If you were brought down here, I assume that you know her."

"Anna."

The woman said nothing, she only raised an eyebrow and stopped circling long enough to change directions.

"Yes, Anna," she said finally. "My daughter, on her rare visits down here, has told me of her plans to take over Earth and its second universe."

"Then you support Anna's invasion of Earth."

Diana stopped moving and came up to Nina standing in front of her, face to face. "No," she said with a certain conviction that made Nina believe her instantly. "No I do not support her invasion of Earth or any other planet."

Nina didn't say anything at first. She watched this other woman circle her around and around, building up speed and intensity and Nina wondered when she would finally strike. "What are you doing down here?" she asked finally.

"My daughter put me down here after she and a few of her followers staged a coup d'état. I've been imprisoned down here for many years and I believe that if she put you down here, if she put down this business woman who was helping her the whole time, you and I have a common enemy."

"You know what she's been doing?"

Diana didn't say anything at first. Instead, she lowered her head in thought and pressed the tips of her fingers together, making several triangles. Slowly, Diana began circling Nina, not out of intimidation, but because she was still the Queen. She stopped right in front of Nina and held herself high, proud and regal.

"My daughter," she began, "In her relentless pursuit of human conquest has left my people broken and dying. She's robbed us of our very nature and made us forget who we are. She imprisoned me down her in order to take control of the Vs and the human race. She wants nothing but to stand over the humans declare herself queen, even if the only things that are left are corpses and her people lay broken and dying around her. My daughter will not stop unless she's killed."

Shocked by Diana's declaration, Nina stood wide-eyed as panic started to grow in the pit of her stomach. "You would kill your own daughter?"

"To save them from the fate that Anna has planned for them, yes, I would."

Nina sucked her lips into her mouth and turned away from the queen, surveying their bleak surroundings. "I appreciate your fervency, but you and I are not in the best of circumstances and I doubt that there are very many people who even know about this place."

Diana tilted her head to the side, nodding in agreement. She eyed Nina carefully, eyes trailing over Nina's body and down her side. The finally rested on her right arm.

"I believe that you have something that could help us."

Nina narrowed her eyes; the robotic fingers in their gloves twitched as if they had a mind of their own. "And what would make you feel that way?"

"Intuition."

Nina almost laughed at Diana's answer. "Even if I did have something that could get us out of here -" her fingers twitched again "- how can I be sure that you're not my enemy?"

"Any enemy of my daughter's, even newly made, is an enemy of mine. She would not have put you down here unless she feared you, unless you know something that could derail her plans, unless you... have something -" her eyes again found Nina's arm "-that could help our situation."

"You have a plan then?"

"I do. I plan on killing my daughter and taking my people back to their home, to their rightful place in the universe."

Nina took one last look around the dank pit that held the two women and decided that perhaps trust was indeed her best course of action.

"Long ago," she started as she began tugging on the fingers of her black gloves. "I worked with a brilliant scientist named Dr. William Bell. There was an unfortunate... accident and he made this for me," she pulled the glove off of her hand, revealing a silver metal that shined in what little light they had. "He made an upgrade to my arm but I've never had any use for it until now."

Diana smiled slightly, the corners of her mouth peaking upwards; she looked very satisfied.

"In the event of a disaster, if I were ever to be incapacitated or imprisoned -" she gripped the pinky and ring fingers on her robotic arm and with the other hand, she jerked them to the right,"- my robotic arm will function as a rescue device." She pulled the fingers from her hand and they detached with a loud click; Nina dropped them on the floor.

It took a minute for something to happen and in those seconds, Diana looked as if she had made a mistake, that her intuition had been wrong and that there was nothing that could get her out of the dungeon, but then, the two fingers sprang to life, stood upright and fell forward, making a triangle shape. Slowly they began to walk towards the door, alternating left point to right.

"Fascinating."

Nina turned to Diana and found her smiling at the sight.

"Do you have to give it any commands?"

"No," Nina explained, folding her glove and putting it into her pocket. "It has a completely independent operating system. It's programed to serve as a rescue device and will run until it completes its mission."

"This is the first time you used it, is it?"

Nina paused for a moment, watching as her arm started to crawl up the side of the walls, picking and peeling, tapping and rapping until it found what it was looking for and disappeared from sight.

"Yes," she answered finally. "At first, I didn't think that such an upgrade was necessary, but then again, I never thought that I would be in business with invading space lizards," Nina said remorsefully.

"How long do we have to wait?" Diana asked, ignoring Nina's personal angst. She had bits of excitement peppered her voice and Nina raised an eyebrow.

"As long as it takes."

Content with Nina's answer, Diana crossed her arms over her chest. "I've been waiting a long time." There was a hunger to her voice and a glint in her eyes that made Nina realize that she had been planning this for a long time.

They were silent for the next few minutes and each woman contemplated her particular situation; the air was thick and heavy, about to burst with the fate of the universe, when suddenly, the transporter rings appeared in the center of the room.

"This must be our ride," Nina said stepping forward but Diana grabbed her by the elbow and held her back.

"If this is a trick," she hissed in Nina's ear, "I will kill you."

"Your threats are unnecessary. We're wasting time down here," Nina turned to Diana and held her gaze. "If you'd like, I will stay in front of you the whole time."

"And what good would that serve me?"

Nina eyed Diana from head to toe, traveling back up her torso, pausing at her hip. "It'll give you easier access to kill me."

Satisfied, a sly smiled smeared over the queen's face and she let Nina go, waiting for her to step into the transporter.

The dank dungeon disappeared and Nina materialized in the empty hall of the mothership, her robotic arm waiting patiently at the side of the room. Picking it up, Nina reattached her arm to its socket as Diana appeared out of a beam of white light.

She took a deep breath and spread her arms open wide. Tipping her head back, she let out a happy cry. "Finally!" she screamed. "It's been too long." She looked around the empty corridor, narrowing her eyes on different rooms and pathways until she found what she was looking for and gathered herself up. "This way," Diana said and Nina could only follow her to her daughter.

/

Bodies lay in the halls of the mothership and with no one guarding the ship, Olivia had no problems looking into every room on the ship in search of Erica. One V tried to stop her, grabbing her by the arm, but evidently, the virus was affecting him because he was easy to kick off and get away from. She wondered for what seemed like an eternity until finally, in the center of Anna's viewscreen room, she found Erica.

The room was empty, but still Olivia was cautious. She could see Erica in the center of the room, tied to a chair and bent over herself like a broken doll; she was muttering to herself. Over and over again, like a broken record she repeated words, phrases, dates, all in the same order. Olivia recognized the act: Erica was trying to keep herself sane. Despite her precarious situation, despite having no backup and no one to rely on, Olivia found Erica and she was alive and that was all that mattered to Olivia in that moment.

After deciding that the room was indeed empty and even though she couldn't be sure of any security cameras that were no doubt mounted on the walls, Olivia went to Erica and pushed her backwards, wiping the dried blood and tears from off her face and cheeks.

"Erica?" she whispered. Olivia kept one hand on her shoulder while the other pushed her hair behind her ears over and over again. She moved her hand to Erica's face so she could adjust it, so that Erica could see her and realize that she was safe.

"Olivia," Erica said flatly, finally breaking her never-ending cycle of words and smiled. "You're alive."

"Yes. I'm fine."

"The last time I saw you..."

"I know, but don't think about that right now. I'm here get you out of here."

"... it worked..." Erica's eyes lulled back into her skull and her head tipped backwards.

"Hey, hey!" Olivia said, standing up on her knees. She gripped the back of Erica's head and forced it back into position. "None of that."

Erica didn't react and the more she shook Erica, the more she reassured her that she was indeed in front of her, alive and well, the more Erica fell inside of herself. hit Olivia like a tonne of bricks: Erica's survival was dependent upon Olivia's survival - upon Olivia recovering from her injuries and from her deal with Nina to follow through, and now that she knew Olivia was safe, Erica could let go and be done with this life that was filled with heartbreak and disaster.

Leaving her for the moment, Olivia ran to the other side of the room that had a few small drawers built into the walls. She ran her fingers over all of them until they popped open with a hiss, finding a faucet with running water but there was nothing to put the water in - no bowls or cups, only her bare hands and that would hardly be affective. Determined, Olivia ran back to the other side of the room and gripped the back of Erica's chair; she pulled with all her might.

The chair was heavy and with Erica in it, it made pulling almost impossible and she broke out into a sweat almost instantly but she didn't give up. She couldn't give up. Switching sides, she pushed the chair over to the faucet and filling her hands up with water, she splashed it on Erica's face, who sat up as much as she could, wide eyed and spluttering.

"Olivia...!" Erica tried to move but she couldn't and she grimaced against the pain. "It's not safe for you to be here."

"You let me worry about that. I'm going to get you out of here," Olivia said, ignoring Erica's pleas. She paused for a moment before she dry swallowed. "Erica, I'm sorry."

Erica didn't respond and for a moment, Olivia thought that Erica didn't hear her "I just..." she stammered, feeling even more guilty than she did before and suddenly she wanted to tell her everything that she was thinking, apologize for everything that had happened, and thank her for saving her life, but she didn't get the chance.

"Olivia, stop," Erica sounded tired, but not exasperated. She took the deepest breath that she could and drew Olivia in with her eyes. Olivia expected her to say something but she didn't. She just held Olivia's gaze for a few moments until Olivia finally understood and nodded her head.

"Okay," Erica said, smiling softly.

"Okay," Olivia breathed. "Now, let me get you out of here."

"No, wait. Please, I need some water," Erica looked at the running faucet longingly and then at Olivia pleadingly.

She didn't say anything, but she raised her hands and then lowered them to wipe them on her pants in a make-shift attempt at cleaning them. She washed her hands off in the sink and then cupped them, letting the water fill until it was overflowing. Olivia brought the water over to Erica, careful not to spill too much as she moved, and she put her hands to Erica's lips, and poured the liquid down her throat. Erica lapped it up, swallowing, gulp after gulp.

"More?" Olivia asked when Erica had drank all the water.

"Please," she said hoarsely, nodding her head.

Olivia repeated the process over and over until Erica was full and then she left her briefly, trying to find something that would help her break Erica's restraints.

"Olivia?" Erica called when she realized what Olivia was doing. "I don't think you need that... I think there's a button or something... a release button."

Olivia looked confused. "Why would they do that?"

"Does it matter?"

Olivia dropped the scrap metal she found and knelt down in front of Erica, running her hands over the ankle cuffs. Erica was right: there was a small yellow button on each side and she pressed them together, releasing the cuffs so Erica could take her feet off the chair.

"Oh, God..." Erica said when she stretched out her legs and put her feet down on the floor. "That feels so good."

Olivia found the same release buttons on the wrist and chest restraints and as soon as all of them were released, she helped Erica up, letting her lean over her back and holding her hand for support.

"How are we going to get out of here?"

"Astrid released a virus into the mothership's atmosphere," Olivia explained as she pushed them in direction of the door. "It's infecting the Vs, and they're reacting to it."

Erica took in a sharp breath as they started moving, her legs wanting to give out from underneath her, but she clung to Olivia tightly. "Reacting? How?"

"They're dying."

"Anna too?"

"No, not Anna," the voice was almost happy; Olivia and Erica turned to find Anna standing behind them, smiling mirthlessly. Calm and cool, she showed no signs of illness or denaturation, forcing Olivia to conclude that Astrid had yet to administer the virus here.

"I have been informed of these... events and believe me, I have sent a dispatch team of Vs in search of your friend. I suspect she'll be joining you soon," Anna eyed the recently empty torture chair and smiled even wider. "And now that I have you both, I can show you exactly what I'm made of."

/

Astrid had one room left to introduce the virus too - Anna's viewscreen room, the largest and most heavily guarded room on the V mothership. Astrid could see Vs scramble from one part of the ship to the other from her bird's eye view and as they crawled on the floor, hand over hand, screaming in pain as their bodies spammed into unrecoverable strokes and seizures. They knew something was wrong by now. They knew that something was affecting them and not the humans and they even knew where it was coming from.

"... we've got to check every system. The water supply, the food processors, ventilation units, everything. Get your teams together..."

Astrid listened long enough; she hurried to her next target, hoping she wasn't already too late.

/

Anna didn't bother with the chair this time. Instead, she surrounded Erica and Olivia with V guards, while her tail shot out and encircled them and Marcus watched from the sidelines.

"This is the leader of the Fifth Column," Anna said, and as she approached Olivia, her tail whipped around, closing in on the two women who stood trapped inside.

Neither Olivia or Erica said anything, but Anna wasn't expecting them too. "I just wanted to get a good look at the woman who could... what was that? Travel freely across universes."

Olivia tried not to look surprised at Anna's statement, but her efforts fell flat and Anna noticed the sideways glance at Erica.

"Oh, don't worry," Anna said, almost laughing. "There is no blame to be laid here. I knew about this long before I met you - you see, there are lengthy documents on you and your emmagnificent/em abilities, and of course, I made sure that one of my operatives made good friends with your Dr. Walter Bishop," Anna's eyes glinted as Olivia realized what must have happened.

Olivia breathed in and closed her eyes. "Oh, Walter..."

"It was extraordinary easy to get this information too. All it took was a plate of home made cookies and a glass of warm milk."

Putting Walter aside for the moment, Olivia realized that she was going to have to buy Astrid some time if the virus was going to take affect. She could only hope that Astrid hadn't been captured and that she was still adding the virus to every ventilation unit. She licked her lips out of nervous habit, regretted the act immediately, and hopped that Anna couldn't see through her.

"Your people have been reacting poorly to the cortexiphan. If you haven't noticed, the majority of them are dying in your hallways," Olivia noticed some of the V guards exchange glances and look to Anna for explanation.

"My people understand the risks that are involved. They can see the future of their species as well as I can. They can see the end results and are committed to the project no matter what hardships they face along the way."

"And what about you?" Olivia's question touched a nerve and Anna charged her, whipping her tail around the floor, encircling them and closing in on Erica.

"Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to use myself as a test subject?" she hissed at Olivia, leaning right in to her face; Olivia could almost feel the V's incisors growing in length; Anna was clearly fighting her instincts and Olivia pushed all the air she was holding on to out of her mouth so that Anna could taste her scent, riling her up further.

"You'd let your own people suffer? You'd let them die, just so you can pursue your own selfish causes?"

Anna's eyes darted from side to side, but still, Olivia held her ground. She refused to give in, even though she had Erica wrapped in a death grip. "I'm trying to embetter/em the lives of my people, I'm trying to help them realize their full potential and cortexiphan is allowing them to do that."

"Cortexiphan is killing your people."

"Cortexiphan is allowing my people to explore potential that they didn't even know they had and it's going to give them the ability to travel from this universe to the next one."

Olivia almost smiled a mirthless smile. Shaking her head in disbelief, she allowed herself the one quick glance sideways: Anna's tail was starting to snake up Erica's body, rooting her to the floor. She looked desperate and helpless but there was nothing either of them could do, except keep Anna talking.

"The other side is a lot more different than you think. They're a lot more... competent than our side is. They have the means to defeat you."

"Perhaps," Anna said as her tail wrapped around Erica's neck and mouth, and she screamed into the pressure. "Or perhaps this is just another challenge for my people to over come so they can assert themselves as the apex race in both universes."

"You still need the right conditioning to get yourselves over there. How do you intend to do that, exactly?"

Anna burst into a wide smile and her eyes glinted. "You're going to do it - you're going to open the door to the other side, Agent Dunham, so that my V soldiers can start their invasion."

"It doesn't work like that. I can't just emmake/em it happen."

"You don't think I don't know that? You don't think that I hadn't planned for this very event from the beginning? I know exactly what you need to make it happen," Anna's eyes narrowed and her tail tightened once again. Erica tried to pull at the green flesh with her hands, but to no avail. Slowly, Anna lifted her up off of the floor. Olivia tried to keep her eyes focused on Anna, but her gaze kept shifting to Erica and suddenly her lifeless body hit the floor.

"No!" Olivia screamed and tried to run to her side, but she was struck from behind by a V guard. Her head was hurting but there was a pain in her chest that threatened to consume her from the inside out. Olivia looked up to see if she could see anything that would tell her what she was was wrong, that Erica wasn't in fact dead, that she had just been hit and lost her balance, until she spotted Erica's body across the floor and realized that she wasn't moving at all. She clenched her eyes shut and lowered her head, resting her forehead against the cold floor as chaos battled around her.

She hoped with all hope that she wouldn't die alone and hopeless in a foreign land and now it seemed as if she was indeed alone and that love had left her for dead. Olivia gasped for air but there was nothing but blood and refuse in the air. She had been empty for so long, everything was always being taken away from her and she was only just starting to think that maybe, that wasn't her lot in life after all and that maybe, she was worth saving. Olivia closed her eyes against tears when suddenly, the room went black with curious white flashes and the unmistakable smell of smoke permeated the air. Olivia could feel it happening all over again and all the memories of the past months flooded her brain and she dropped to her knees, holding her head in her hands, until something touched her shoulder and she looked up to see Nina Sharp standing above her.

Olivia let Nina pull her up and back towards the wall for what little protection that it offered. Everywhere around them, V guards were falling to the floor, most of them dead before they hit the ground. Their agonizing screams saturated the air, but over top of their screams was another high pitched wailing sound. Olivia raised her head from her hands and looked up at Nina and suddenly realized what was going on.

Anna was floating in the air with something sharp and green protruding through her stomach. Not floating, but hovering; something was lifting her up off the ground and Anna struggled to get her feet back on the ground. Olivia couldn't tell what was going on, what was happening or more importantly, where Erica's body was laying.

"Nina...! What's going on?" she tried to yell over the din of chaos and confusion.

"Olivia, listen to me!" Nina gripped her by the arms and shook her almost violently. "You need to close the rift. You need to focus all your energy and close this rift. Do you understand me?" she shook Olivia again and Olivia nodded. Slowly, she closed her eyes and focused her mind.

At first nothing happened and chaos still ran amok: V guards were writhing on the floor, arching in painful spasms, unable to say anything or to help themselves, and Anna's still hovered above the floor, flailing her arms and legs. But then, another set of hands touched Olivia's back.

They were warm and ... familiar somehow. Her first thought was that they were Peter's but she dismissed that idea almost as quickly as she formed it. They belonged to someone else... someone...

"Olivia, I'm not dead. Don't be scared. I'm here, I'm alive."

Erica's words lifted everything inside of Olivia up and she felt a sense of relief wash over her like she never felt before and suddenly, she remembered what she needed to do. She focused on Erica's voice, breathing in steady streams of air and then the rift between the two universes closed and disappeared, leaving Olivia with a strange sense of peace: everything was suddenly alright in the world.

The constant feeling of uncertainty that was with her every morning and every night before she went to sleep was gone. Olivia breathed in for the first time, like a new born baby taking in new life. The air was lighter somehow, she was lighter as the universe's anxiety lifted from her shoulders and disappeared into thin air. She blinked back tears of relief and joy when she realized that everything was finally over.

"What...?" Olivia tried to ask, but she stumbled and nearly crashed to the floor. Erica caught her by the waist and Olivia wrapped one arm around Erica's neck as Erica hoisted her back on to her feet. "I thought you were dead," she whispered into Erica's hair.

"That's what Anna wanted you to think," Erica said, holding her close.

Olivia turned her head from the crook of Erica's neck and stared at the sight before them.

Anna's was still floating above the floor with something green sticking out of her belly. Blood was starting to drip out of her mouth and her body was beginning to go limp as she slid further and further down the green pole... not a pole, a tail. A female V's tail had come up behind Anna and stabbed her on the right side of her chest and through her heart.

"Who is that?"

Nina looked at Olivia. "That's Diana, Anna's mother."

Both Olivia and Erica turned to Nina in wide-eyed shock and Olivia slid out of Erica's grasp and stood on her own two feet.

"So..." Erica started slowly. "The V Queen wasn't..."

"... the real queen," Nina said, nodding in agreement.

Diana flicked her tail suddenly, flinging Anna's body off her tail and away from them and the V bodies that lay on the floor. She landed in the center of the room, blood pouring out of her open wounds. Diana approached her directly and the others followed; Erica and Olivia were still leaning on each other for support.

"Marcus!" Diana called out to the piles of bodies that edged the floor. "Flip her over."

They all waited as Marcus crawled out from under a body that he was using for protection and even though his arm was beginning to spasm violently, he obeyed Diana's order and approached the crowed that surrounded Anna. He picked her up by the shoulders and pushed her over on to her back, confirming to everyone that she was dead.

Diana knelt down beside her dead daughter's corpse; with one finger, she traced the human skin that covered reptilian flesh and looked almost sympathetic. "My daughter was my mistake," she said to everyone who was watching. "I won't make the same mistake with the next generation."

No one had the change to say anything: suddenly the glass celling shattered and another body landed on top of Anna's. Everyone stumbled backwards and the force knocked Diana off of her feet and she landed behind her on haunches.

"... Astrid?" Olivia asked incredulously.

"Hope you don't mind my dropping in," Astrid said smartly, looking up at Olivia and turning to the crowd of people that surrounded her. It was only then that she realized exactly what she was standing on. She grimaced and climbed off of the guard and went to stand by Olivia, picking shards of glass off of her clothes. "Um," she said slowly when no one said anything, "mission accomplished?"

"Astrid!" Olivia said, gripping her by the arm. "The virus, did you administer it here too?"

Astrid nodded. "Of course. Why...?"

Erica let out a gasp when she realized what Olivia was talking about. Without saying anything to each other, they both rushed towards Diana, grabbing her by the elbows.

"We have to get out of here! If it's not already too late," Erica said as her and Olivia dragged Diana towards the bay doors as fast as they could.

/

The streets of New York were flooded with people, all trying to find their loved ones, all trying to get a sense of what was going on above them. The TV news reports were offering the public only fragmented stories of a virus that was circulating the New York mothership and of the so-called emplanned/em human evacuation for their safety and protection, still with no word from Anna and Diana was already showing signs of the virus' affects - her hands started to shake violently.

"What are you going to do now?" Astrid asked Diana when she had the first opportunity to ask amid the chaos that swarmed around them.

"I'm going to take the survivors back to the V homeworld. I'm going to reunite the people under my leadership and I'm going to train my granddaughter how to be a proper queen."

"Can you all survive the trip?" Nina turned to Diana, who was already beginning to show signs of infection. Diana didn't answer, instead she looked down at the floor when Astrid took a step forward, clearing her throat. They all looked at her as she pulled another glass phial from the hem of her jacket, only this one had a different coloured stopper from the phials that contained the virus.

"It's an antidote," Astrid said looking firmly at Olivia and Erica, jutting her chin out. "Walter and Sydney worked on it after Father Jack asked them to."

"And this will cure my people?"

Astrid nodded. "It'll counter act the virus and the cortexiphan's affects on the V's DNA."

"How fast will it take affect?" Diana asked, taking the phial from Astrid's fingers.

"As quickly as the virus did, they told me."

Diana nodded. "Thank you, my dear."

"What about the Vs who want to stay here?" Erica asked, thinking about Ryan.

Diana thought for a moment. "If they want to remain on Earth, I have no objection. I suppose there may be some issues with your government, but if that's the life they chose to lead, I will not stand in their way."

Erica nodded, satisfied with the answer as Walter came running towards them, calling out Astrid's name. She turned and broke out into a huge smile. Excitedly, she stood on her toes and waved as ferociously as she could.

"My dear," he said huffing and puffing when he finally found them. "I've been worried about you."

"About me?" Astrid asked, grinning slightly. "I'm fine Walter and so is Olivia and Erica and everyone else."

"The... the virus...?"

She shrugged one shoulder. "Worked like a charm, just like you said it would."

"How is everyone else?" Erica asked Walter, who looked slightly surprised at the question, as if he only saw Erica until that moment.

"Everyone else... oh! Oh, they're fine. I think... yes, they must be. I left them at that basement compound. I don't know where they are now... but I don't think there were any other causalities, aside from the infected Vs."

"How about the universe, Walter," Olivia asked. "Will the universe still collapse around itself, Walter?"

"I suspect so, but now on its own time perhaps."

"That's a battle for another day," Astrid pulled her cap off her head, shook out her hair and let her curls dance freely in the wind. "C'mon, Walter. Let's get out of here."

"Oh, do you think that ice cream parlor is open?" He asked Astrid excitedly, trotting after her with a huge smile on his face.

"A few hours after the almost-apocalypse? Yeah sure I do, Walter. Sure I do."

"She should get him a plate of home made cookies and a glass of warm milk," Olivia mumbled to herself.

Erica smiled and shook her head as the two left her and Olivia standing amidst the chaos of the city's recovery.

"What do we do now?"

Olivia didn't answer her right away; she turned around in a slow circle, watching as the last of the V ships disappeared into earth's atmosphere, as the people who stood watching slowly went back to their daily lives, as Erica stood unmoving on the sidewalk.

"I don't know," she answered slowly but honestly. "Try to put the universe back together? Go back to our lives and..." she paused for a moment and looked at Erica squarely in the eyes. "Try to start over, I guess."

They both looked away from each other, but one hand brushed another and soon they were squeezing each other tightly, holding on for dear life, for the lives worth living.

**Epilogue**

Apologies meant everything in a world of broken hearts and betrayals; the casualties were hearts, bandaged and nursed to stop the bleeding. The hurt, once drawn out and excruciating, was but a distant memory. Healed from betrayal, new souls made whole soared through the sky with confidence and direction, where the smell of new life permeated the air. Brought together, the survivors walked hand in hand, into their rightful places in the world.


End file.
